The pictographic molecular paradigm. Pictorial communication in the chemical and biological sciences.

Chemistry, molecular biology and biology have turned into visive sciences in which ideas and information are communicated by artistic impressions and cartoons. These sciences have, in fact, become dominated by what we term the Pictographic molecular paradigm under which reality is acritically approximated by drawings of some kind. But it goes further than this and has both social and philosophical implications of which, we feel, there is insufficient general awareness. Important questions should be asked in connection with this way of doing science, including, for example, as to whether drawings of chemical formulae and graphical representation in biology meet the criterion of objectivity. This paper discusses some of the implications of the pictographic molecular paradigm and its limits and dangers.