Article ID: CBB990430440

The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci as a Representation of an Operational Approach to Knowledge (2019)

unapi

Salvatore Magazù (Author)
Nella Coletta (Author)
Federica Migliardo (Author)


Foundations of Science
Volume: 24
Issue: 4
Pages: 751-773
Publication date: 2019
Language: English


The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous and most studied drawings over the world as well as one of the most reproduced ones, e.g. in coins (Italian euros), space suit patches (NASA), books and movies. The aim of the present work is to discuss the Vitruvian Man as a figurative representation of the Leonardo’s scientific method. Our analysis is based on scientific elements both present in the drawing and provided by Leonardo in his approach to this drawing. Our thesis is that the square symbolizes the measurable physical world and that the man inscribed within the square refers to the physics measurement process based on the operational definition of quantities, including the measurement unit system and the quantities conversion factors. Therefore, the measurement process is fundamental for the Leonardo’s approach to the scientific knowledge, albeit, the drawing also suggests that this latter does not correspond with the true knowledge. The circle, which has a different center with respect to the square, symbolizes the truth, to which the man inscribed in the square yearns, without ever achieving it, the truth being reachable only by the man inscribed within the circle.

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Authors & Contributors
Belli, Gianluca
Brioist, Pascal
Corones, Anthony
Freeland, Guy
Gatto, Romano
Geddes, Leslie A.
Journals
Nuncius: Annali di Storia della Scienza
Foundations of Science
Historia Mathematica
VIET: Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki
Archivio Storico Lombardo
Publishers
Aracne
Amsterdam University Press
Bardi
Kluwer Academic
Leo S. Olschki Editore
Polistampa
Concepts
Science and art
Visual representation; visual communication
Engineering
Technology
Mechanics
Interdisciplinary approach to knowledge
People
Leonardo da Vinci
Bellarmine, Roberto Francesco Romolo
Copernicus, Nicolaus
Descartes, René
Fibonacci, Leonardo
Foscarini, Paolo Antonio
Time Periods
Renaissance
15th century
16th century
Medieval
Early modern
17th century
Places
Italy
Europe
France
Florence (Italy)
Milan (Italy)
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