Diagrams and Their Role in Economics as Problem-Solving Devices and Theory-Improving Tools. The Case of the Phillip Machine

In my proposal, I advance a description of diagrams, as an instance of visualization within theory-building and theory- enhancing processes, as effective problem-solving devices and as didactical tools with powerful didactical properties. The ability of diagrams and diagrammatic reasoning to work as effective theory-enhancing devices has been described in many contexts, from mathematics to chemistry, in my proposal I claim that such ability is even more clear within the context of economics and economic theory-developing processes. Through the presentation of the case-study of the Philip machine, I will argue that these properties turned out to be of fundamental importance in the understanding, circulation and finally practice of the economic theory they “depicted”.