Tables of knowledge
Subtitle: Descartes in Vermeer's studio
By: Harriet Stone.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Ithaca, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 168
ISBN-13: 9780801444616
Subjects: Vermeer, Johannes, -- 1632-1675 -- Criticism and interpretation; Descartes, René, -- 1596-1650 -- Influence; Art and philosophy -- Netherlands -- History -- 17th century; Representation (Philosophy) -- History -- 17th century
Description: "Descartes believed that his analytic model applied to all fields of research and that all branches of science lead to truth. His many analogies with literature and art notwithstanding, Descartes offers an entry into knowledge that fails nevertheless to take into account how in the seventeenth century Dutch painters such as Vermeer similarly order a view of the world by concentrating on the properties of individual objects. Descartes's celebrated scientific method offers a protocol for conducting experiments; Harriet Stone argues that this method can also serve as a guide for classifying the findings obtained from experiments.

Tables of Knowledge shows that Dutch genre paintings and still lifes enact in visual form a process of recording information similar to that of science, with intriguing results." "Stone investigates such diverse topics as seventeenth-century advances in optics and the attendant explosion of data about the natural world; the proliferation of material goods in prosperous Dutch homes; and the compelling realism of Golden Age paintings."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-162) and index.