Geometry, subjectivity and the seduction of language: the regulation of spatial perception

Brown, T and Heywood, D (2011) Geometry, subjectivity and the seduction of language: the regulation of spatial perception. Educational Studies in Mathematics: an international journal, 77 (2-3). pp. 351-367. ISSN 0013-1954

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Abstract

Following Husserl's speculations on how geometry originated, we suggest that spatial perception is seduced by language as a result of human attempts to capture, signify and share its concepts. And this language traps geometry and humans themselves in to the forms that have guided and regulated past practices, thereby obscuring possibilities for cultural growth and adjustments to new conditions. Some body movement exercises reveal student teachers' spatial orientations. The paper proposes that the very evolution of geometry, and the ontological status of its objects, relate to their representation in cultural forms referenced to human self-image. It is further argued that learning crucially relates to evolving mathematical or pedagogical understandings of spatial phenomena. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.