Plato, Diagrammatic Reasoning and Mental Models

This book analyses the role of diagrammatic reasoning in Plato’s philosophy: the readers will realize that Plato, describing the stages of human cognitive development using a diagram, poses a logic problem to stimulate the general reasoning abilities of his readers. Saracco works from a primarily epistemological perspective on Plato but aims to broaden that with sustained interdisciplinary engagement with the philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of science, and cognitive science. Her overall argument is that Plato’s dialogues are best understood as an ongoing intellectual engagement between the reader and the writer. As the reader engages with various visual models within the texts, the reader moves from a perspective of theoretical childhood to theoretical adulthood. She maps this intellectual development of the various stages on the divided line. The book is very well-written and thought provoking.- Anne-Marie Schultz, Baylor University, Waco, US. This book analyses the role of diagrammatic reasoning in Plato’s philosophy: the readers will realize that Plato, describing the stages of human cognitive development using a diagram, poses a logic problem to stimulate the general reasoning abilities of hisreaders. Following the examination of mental models in this book, the readers will reflect on what inferences can be useful to approach this kind of logic problem. Plato calls for a collaboration between writer and readers. In this book the readers will examine the connection between diagrams and discovery, realizing the important epistemic role of visualization. They will recognize the crucial role that diagrams play in problem solving. The logic problem elaborated by Plato is addressed considering the epistemic function of mental models. These models introduce to an…