Historical Epistemology of Space: From Primate Cognition to Spacetime Physics (SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology Book 0)

This monograph investigates the development of human spatial knowledge by analyzing its elementary structures and studying how it is further shaped by various societal conditions. By taking a thoroughly historical perspective on knowledge and integrating results from various disciplines, this work throws new light on long-standing problems in epistemology such as the relation between experience and preformed structures of cognition. What do the orientation of apes and the theory of relativity have to do with each other? Readers will learn how different forms of spatial thinking are related in a long-term history of knowledge. Scientific concepts of space such as Newtonℓ́ℓs absolute space or Einsteinℓ́ℓs curved spacetime are shown to be rooted in pre-scientific structures of knowledge, while at the same time enabling the integration of an ever expanding corpus of experiential knowledge.℗ℓ This work addresses all readers interested in questions of epistemology, in particular philosophers and historians of science. It integrates forms of spatial knowledge from disciplines including anthropology, developmental psychology and cognitive sciences, amongst others This monograph investigates the development of human spatial knowledge by analyzing its elementary structures and studying how it is further shaped by various societal conditions. By taking a thoroughly historical perspective on knowledge and integrating results from various disciplines, this work throws new light on long-standing problems in epistemology such as the relation between experience and preformed structures of cognition. What do the orientation of apes and the theory of relativity have to do with each other? Readers will learn how different forms of spatial thinking are related in a long-term history of knowledge. Scientific concepts of space such as Newtonĺls absolute space or Einsteinĺls curved spacetime are shown to be rooted in pre-scientific structures of knowledge, while at the same time enabling the integration of an ever expanding corpus of experiential knowledge.℗l This work addresses all readers interested in questions of epistemology, in particular philosophers and historians of science. It integrates forms of spatial knowledge from disciplines including anthropology, developmental psychology and cognitive sciences, amongst others Front Matter....Pages i-viii The Challenge of a Historical Epistemology of Space....Pages 1-7 Natural Conditions of Spatial Cognition....Pages 9-20 Culturally Shared Mental Models of Space....Pages 21-31 Social Control of Space and Metrization....Pages 33-41 Reflection and the Context-Independence of Mental Models of Space....Pages 43-63 The Expansion of Experiential Spaces Over History....Pages 65-87 The Decline of an Autonomous Concept of Space....Pages 89-105 Concluding Remarks....Pages 107-112 Back Matter....Pages 113-117