Diagrams and Proofs

Abstract

The standard approach to proofs is the linguistic conception of proofs.Recent literature, though, legitimates heterogenic proofs, i.e., the ones thatinclude graphic or visual elements. Such claims imply a better evaluation of thedistinction between linguistic and graphic or visual representation; it alsosuggests an analysis of role of the dichotomy intuitive/discursive in the philosophyof mathematics and logic. Along this short paper we examine two canonicalheterogeneous proofs, emphasizing their discursive components.In the equally short final section we introduce provisionally the leibinizianconcept of an ecthetic representation as a way to access the distinction betweenthe linguistic and the graphical.