The amalgam of faith and reason
Euclid's elements and the scientific thinker
pp. 99-111
in: Paul Ernest (ed), The philosophy of mathematics education today, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
Problematizing the truths of mathematics education is one of the roles of the philosophy of mathematics education. That mathematics education is a matter of reason and science—not of faith and religion—and that mathematics is timeless, universal and immutable, objective knowledge that is independent from people"s work and sense-making are two strong taken-for-granted statements that navigate in common understandings of mathematics education. Using a Foucault-Deleuze inspired analytical strategy, we examine the contention that mathematics education for the making of the rational and logical child intertwines with what was ought to be the "scientific thinker" to Christianity. We focus on how Euclidean geometry, taken as a proper method of inquiry amalgamated with the Christian worldview to provide explanations about the natural world. The effect of power is the making of the Modern scientific thinker.
