To Prove the Evident: On the Inferential Role of Euclidean Diagrams

• Authors: Crippa Davide
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Diagrams have been rightly acknowledged to license inferences in Euclid's geometric practice. However, if on one hand purely visual proofs are to be found nowhere in the Elements, on the other, fully fledged proofs of diagrammatically evident statements are offered, as in El. I. 20: 'In any triangle the sum of two sides is greater than the third'. In this paper the author explains, taking as a starting point Kenneth Manders' analysis of Euclidean diagram, how exact and co-exact claims enter proposition I. 20. Then, he ultimately argues that this proposition serves broader explanatory purposes, enhancing control on diagram appearance.

Keywords

EN

DIAGRAMS; EUCLID; INFERENCE; PROOF

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Teorie vědy (Theory of Science)
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 101-112
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Crippa Davide

• Davide Crippa, REHSEIS, Universite Paris 7 - Denis Diderot, Case 7064, 5 rue Thomas Mann, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France; http://dlib.lib.cas.cz/5951/

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10CZAAAA083311