Another Perspective on Instrumental Perception

• In Event: Postphenomenology - IV: Refining the Conceptual Framework

Abstract

While scientific instrumentation forms an integral part of any experimental investigation, the human experience of the instrumental display (commonly, a visual “reading”) is less studied than, for instance, the experience of art or a literary text. Specifically, what is of concern here is the instrumental perception of entities and states of affairs having little or no visual manifestation accessible by human sensory abilities. Using an instrument consisting of means for detection and transduction, followed by the visual display of information obtained, typically results in the emergence of a non-isomorphic, external representation.
It is suggested here that the act of instrumental perception should not be regarded as a simple engagement with the world, but rather the consequence of a closely coupled relationship between human and technology-based instrumentation: a particular species of enactivism. Initially, the human observer is not situated to “know”, but only to begin a constituting process of first-person, sensory perception followed by a reflective experience—a third-person perspective that enriches the first person view. By reflexively repeating these actions, which may include physical adjustments to the instrument itself, each step results in an improved epistemic position, in a manner closely resembling the hermeneutic circle of interpretation. Hasok Chang (2004) refers to this type of process as “epistemic iteration”. In convergence, such iteration constitutes a knowing subject and a corresponding object, present only in an artificial manner and distinct from the material display. These notions are further elaborated and expanded in examination of several examples.

Author

• Stanley C Kranc, University of South Florida