¿«Natural» y «euclidiana»? Reflexiones sobre la geometría práctica y sus raíces cognitivas

Abstract

We discuss critically some recent theses about geometric cognition, namely claims of universality made by Dehaene et al., and the idea of a “natural geometry” employed by Spelke. We offer arguments for the need to distinguish visuo-spatial cognition from basic geometric knowledge; furthermore, we claim that the latter cannot be identified with Euclidean geometry. The main aim of this paper is to advance toward a characterization of basic geometry, which in our view requires a combination of experiments on visuo-spatial cognition with studies in cognitive archaeology and comparative history. Examples from these fields are given, with special emphasis on the comparison of ancient Chinese and ancient Greek geometric ideas and procedures.