Lives of the Cell

Abstract

What is the relation between things andtheories, the material world and its scientificrepresentations? This is a staple philosophicalproblem that rarely counts as historically legitimate or fruitful. In the followingdialogue, the interlocutors do not argue for oragainst realism. Instead, they explorechanging relations between theories and things,between contested objects of knowledge (likethe cell) and less contested, moreeveryday things (like frog eggs scooped from apond). Widely seen as the life sciences' firstgeneral theory, the cell theory underwentdramatic changes during the nineteenth century. The dialogue establishes that each successiveversion of the cell theory was formulated –each identity of the object cell wasformed – around a different material: cork,cartilage, eggs in cleavage, muscle. Suchthings thus serve as exemplary materials, inways not described by standard concepts likeinduction, theory-testing, theory-ladenobservation, and construction. Still, how cantheories and perspective possibly be honedon things if these are apprehended differentlyby different observers according to theirinterests, training, culture, or indeedtheories? The second part of the dialogueaddresses this problem, partly through theverbal and visual schemata that were used bynineteenth-century microscopists and that arecomparable to schemata in the visual arts. Thethird part of the dialogue considers theexemplary materials as a historical sequence,itself needing explanation. Theoretical changedevolved partly from wider histories andgeographies of the prevalence, availability, orscientific and cultural status of materialssuch as plants, animals, and muscle.