Diagrams in Intra-Configurational Analysis

Authors

Marco Panza, Chapman UniversityFollow
Gianluca Longa, Université Clermont-Auvergne

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

In this paper we would like to attempt to shed some light on the way in which diagrams enter into the practice of ancient Greek geometrical analysis. To this end, we will first distinguish two main forms of this practice, i.e., trans-configurational and intra-configurational. We will then argue that, while in the former diagrams enter in the proof essentially in the same way (mutatis mutandis) they enter in canonical synthetic demonstrations, in the latter, they take part in the analytic argument in a specific way, which has no correlation in other aspects of classical geometry. In intra-configurational analysis, diagrams represent in fact the result of a purely material gesture, which is not codified by any construction canon, but permitted only by the (theoretical) practice of the method of analysis and synthesis.

Comments

This article was originally published in Philosophia Scientiæ, volume 25, issue 3, in 2021. https://doi.org/10.4000/philosophiascientiae.3225

Recommended Citation

Marco Panza et Gianluca Longa, « Diagrams in Intra-Configurational Analysis », Philosophia Scientiæ [En ligne], 25-3 | 2021, mis en ligne le 25 octobre 2021, consulté le 24 janvier 2024. https://doi.org/10.4000/philosophiascientiae.3225

Peer Reviewed

1

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.