Epistemic artifacts and changing patterns of observation

Abstract

This paper explores how epistemic artifacts have transformed our understanding of scientific observation. It examines the historical evolution from basic instruments such as Mayan quadrants and Galileo’s telescope to today’s sophisticated electron microscopes. The study focuses on how these devices have reshaped the traditional concept of observation in the philosophy of science, particularly within the field of nanotechnology. Against the backdrop of historical figures such as Descartes, Hooke, Newton, and Leeuwenhoek, it highlights how each contributed to the development of the «microscopic artifactual tradition». The paper introduces the concept of nanoepistemology to describe how knowledge of the nano-world fundamentally depends on instrument-processed images rather than traditional direct observation. It concludes that these technological transformations have weakened the role of classical theories and have shifted the philosophy of science toward a philosophy of technology.