Daniele Molinini
Published Online: 08 Nov 2016
Page range: 124 – 141
Abstract
In this paper I concentrate on Euclidean diagrams, namely on those diagrams that are licensed by the rules of Euclid’s plane geometry. I shall overview some philosophical stances that have recently been proposed in philosophy of mathematics to account for the role of such diagrams in mathematics, and more particularly in Euclid’s Elements. Furthermore, I shall provide an original analysis of the epistemic role that Euclidean diagrams may (and, indeed) have in empirical sciences, more specifically in physics. I shall claim that, although the world we live in is not Euclidean, Euclidean diagrams permit to obtain knowledge of the world through a specific mechanism of inference I shall call inheritance.
Cite
Molinini, Daniele. “The Epistemological Import of Euclidean Diagrams (in a non-Euclidean world)” Kairos. Journal of Philosophy & Science, vol.16, no.1, 2016, pp.124-141. https://doi.org/10.1515/kjps-2016-0012