Visual reasoning is the process of manipulating one's
mental image
A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
of an object in order to reach a certain conclusion – for example, mentally constructing a piece of machinery to experiment with different mechanisms. In a frequently cited paper in the journal ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
'' and a later book,
Eugene S. Ferguson Eugene Shallcross Ferguson (January 24, 1916 – March 21, 2004) was an American engineer, historian of technology and professor of history at the University of Delaware, particularly known for his 1992 work '' Engineering and the Mind's Eye.''
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, a mechanical engineer and historian of technology, claims that visual reasoning is a widely used tool used in creating technological artefacts. There is ample evidence that visual methods, particularly drawing, play a central role in creating artefacts. Ferguson's visual reasoning also has parallels in philosopher
David Gooding
David Charles Gooding (21 November 1947 – 13 December 2009) was a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, and the Director of the Science Studies Centre, at the University of Bath, UK . He was President of the History of Science Sectio ...
's argument that experimental scientists work with a combination of action, instruments, objects and procedures as well as words. That is, with a significant non-verbal component.
Ferguson argues that
non-verbal reasoning
Visual thinking, also called visual or spatial learning or picture thinking, is the phenomenon of thinking through visual processing. Visual thinking has been described as seeing words as a series of pictures. It is common in approximately 60� ...
does not get much attention in areas like
history of technology
The history of technology is the history of the invention of tools and techniques and is one of the categories of world history. Technology can refer to methods ranging from as simple as stone tools to the complex genetic engineering and info ...
and
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ulti ...
because the people involved are verbal rather than visual thinkers.
Those who use visual reasoning, notably architects, designers, engineers, and certain mathematicians conceive and manipulate objects in "the mind's eye" before putting them on paper. Having done this the paper or computer versions (in
CAD
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...
) can be manipulated by
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
ically "building" the object on paper (or computer) before building it physically.
alternating current motor
An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current (AC). The AC motor commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rot ...
he built ran perfectly because he had visualized and "run" models of it in his mind before building the prototype.
Scientific visualization
Scientific visualization ( also spelled scientific visualisation) is an interdisciplinary branch of science concerned with the visualization of scientific phenomena. Michael Friendly (2008)"Milestones in the history of thematic cartography, st ...