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Historical Epistemology of Space

From Primate Cognition to Spacetime Physics

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Matthias Schemmel

    1. Max PIanck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

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  • Introduces an epistemologically informed history of knowledge across different disciplines
  • Discusses the societal and material conditions under which theories and spatial thinking develop
  • Presents theoretical considerations & concrete results from both historical studies and empirical sciences
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology (BRIEFSHIST)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Challenge of a Historical Epistemology of Space

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 1-7

  3. Natural Conditions of Spatial Cognition

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 9-20

  4. Culturally Shared Mental Models of Space

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 21-31

  5. Social Control of Space and Metrization

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 33-41

  6. Reflection and the Context-Independence of Mental Models of Space

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 43-63

  7. The Expansion of Experiential Spaces Over History

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 65-87

  8. The Decline of an Autonomous Concept of Space

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 89-105

  9. Concluding Remarks

    • Matthias Schemmel
    Pages 107-112

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 113-117
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Keywords

About this book

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 Newton’s absolute space or Einstein’s 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. 

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.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Max PIanck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Matthias Schemmel

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Historical Epistemology of Space

  • Book Subtitle: From Primate Cognition to Spacetime Physics

  • Authors: Matthias Schemmel

  • Series Title: SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25241-4

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Author(s) 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-25239-1Published: 16 December 2015

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-25241-4Published: 11 December 2015

  • Series ISSN: 2211-4564

  • Series E-ISSN: 2211-4572

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VIII, 117

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: History of Science, Epistemology

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