Scientific Discovery and the Scientist's Gaze: Galileo's Lunar Science and the Lacanian Theory of Art

One dominant explanation for Galileo's telescopic discovery of the rough and uneven surface of the moon is that he was well-versed in painting techniques such as perspective and chiaroscuro, which emphasize a realistic representation of objects. This allowed him to grasp the appearance of the moon most accurately. This paper proposes a new interpretation of the relationship of science and art through the Galilean case, which highlights the creative process rather than realistic representation as they pertain to the beneficial role of art in advancing science. Tracing the trajectory of Galileo's telescopic observation as described in Sidereus Nuncius, the author demonstrates that what Galileo saw were simply unidentifiable spots and that the discovery of the moon's rough surface was an inference-the key factor being a self-distancing imagination that allowed him to see, at an imaginary distance, the homogeneous relationship of the moon and the earth to the sun. The author discusses how this self-distancing imagination, which involves reestablishing the relationship of objects through light, is uniquely connected to pictorial artistic sensibility, especially through the Lacanian theory of art. Finally, the author suggests that a love for numerous partial objects, rather than for truth, constitutes the real ethical foundation of a scientist.