Defying the limits of the plane: Two-dimensional space and its consequences in the search for the order of nature

The discussion about the order of nature holds a central position in the History of Biological Science. It reached its culmination between the mid-eighteenth and the late nineteenth century, when new knowledge forced a rearrangement of existing thought patterns to adapt them to the recently discovered complexity. Not only different concepts about the relationships among organisms were superseding one another, but also images, as a variety of structures were used to visually display these ideas. Each of these visualizations, usually described as ladders, maps, networks and trees, developed a particular, individual formal language, generating a unique and fascinating collection of graphical examples. This formal variability is a product of the changing ideas about nature, about its origins, and even about the position attributed to human beings within it. However, it is also the result of the authors’ struggle with the drawing space in which this order was to be inscribed.

By studying the history of the illustration of the order of nature from the perspective of applied image production, by analysing the strategies their authors used to visually express their ideas, the graphical elements they employed, in summary, the visual choices they made, much can be learnt about the visual medium itself, its specificity, its possibilities, its power. Using this approach, the following article will show that the transition from the scala naturae to maplike or treelike structures cannot be seen exclusively as proof of an intellectual transition, as a succession of abstract ideas, but as creative attempts to solve specific spatial problems imposed by the realm of the visual.