Abstract

...that is, “Let no-one without knowledge of geometry enter:” the inscription displayed on the entrance to Plato’s Academy reminds us how close the relationships between mathematics1 and philosophy used to be. In this perspective, when we approach the issue of how philosophical inquiry can further maths’ teaching/learning, a sort of archaeological attitude is in order, which delves into the layers of a long history, plumbs the recondite depths of Western thought, and unearths what remains too often concealed either because it is taken for granted or because we have become unable to detect what constitutes the very way in which we think.