From Data to Wisdom: An Interview with José Higuera
by Mário Correia
February 2023 – How was data gathered and visualised in the Middle Ages and Early Modernity? Can we learn something about our contemporary way of dealing with data by looking to the past? In this interview, José Higuera Rubio (UNED, Madrid) presents the outcomes of the project “From Data to Wisdom”, held at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Porto, between 2018 and 2022. This interdisciplinary project aimed at philosophising about visualisation tools such as diagrams, charts, and Porphyrian trees and how they are connected to philosophical theories on the mind, imagination and demonstration. A second goal of the project was to make a joint effort to understand these tools from the point of view of contemporary hermeneutics of technology. There was also time for advice to young scholars and opening prospects for the future.
The interview took place in the XVth SIEPM Congress, Paris.
About José Higuera Rubio
José Higuera Rubio is Professor of Medieval Philosophy at UNED (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia – Madrid) and has been the IP of the Project “From Data to Wisdom. Philosophizing Data Visualization in the Middle Ages and Early Modernity (XIII-XVIIth century)“, implemented at Universidade do Porto. His research deals with the long-term processes of conceptual transformations in the history of science, logic, and the philosophy of nature. Higuera’s studies are focused particularly on the Iberian region and vernacular languages in order to track the dissemination of the philosophical tradition and the use of scientific representations (diagrams, graphics, cosmographers, charts) from the Middle Ages to Early Modernity.
IPM Monthly 