Mechanical molecular models and haptic reasoning
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Date
2014
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Abstract
The use of physical models of molecular structures as research tools has been central to the development of biochemistry and molecular biology. Intriguingly, it has received little attention from scholars of science. In this paper, I argue that these physical models are not mere three-dimensional representations but that they are in fact very special research tools: they are cognitive augmentations. Despite the fact that they are external props, these models serve as cognitive tools that augment and extend the modeler’s cognitive capacities and performance in molecular modeling tasks. This cognitive enhancement is obtained because of the way the modeler interacts with these models, the models’ materiality contributing to the solving of the molecule’s structure. Furthermore, I argue that these material models and their component parts were designed, built and used specifically to serve as cognitive facilitators and cognitive augmentations.
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modern, contemporary, structure of theories, education, biochemistry, molecular biology, the role of mechanical molecular models in the 20th century biochemistry and molecular biology
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Downstream publication: Charbonneau, Mathieu. (2013) "The cognitive life of mechanical molecular models." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 44(4), 585-594.