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13 Things 2008
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
The magnifying glass mediates the relationship between the human observer and the object through its capacities for optical constancy and mobility.
Optical constancy is one principle, discussed in Vision in Science, which allows for the privileging of vision over other senses. The magnifying glass is a tool which permits observation at a distance without any changes in the fundamental nature of the object. Nonetheless, the magnifying glass allows for a change in scale which enhances the eye's visualization capacities. Employment of optical constancy allows the magnifying glass to obtain observational superiority while allowing the magnifying glass to employ vision's power as an unbiased perceptual tool.
The magnifying glass is also mobile, allowing a universal application of this optical power. All objects approachable by a human are objects to which the magnifying glass may be applied; its only limits are the mobilization capacities of the human.
An ordinary observer, when equipped with a magnifying glass, has the power to scrutinize any accessible object. A magnifying glass fundamentally changes a person's relationship with their environment by enlisting a mobile scientific gaze; any object, anywhere, to any person using a magnifying glass becomes an object for scientific inquiry. The human with a magnifying glass is granted a greater perceptual authority than an ordinary observer. The magnifying glass gives the observer the authority to universally apply a scientific gaze. Nonetheless, by changing the perception of an object while maintaining distance, the magnifying glass creates the illusion that the perception of the object with the magnifying glass is the same as without. In reality, an object under the magnifying glass relates differently to an observer than the unmagnified object, resulting in a changed relationship between object and human mediated by the magnifying glass.
Back to Vision and the Magnifying Glass.