Relationality and mathematical knowing

Abstract

Current conceptualizations of knowing and learning tend to separate the knower from others, the world they know, and themselves. In this article, we offer 'relationality' as an alternative to such conceptualizations of mathematical knowing. We begin with the perspective of Maturana and Varela to articulate some of its problems and our alternative. We then illustrate relationality with the help of a short classroom episode in which geometrical knowing arises from and is constitutive of a threefold relationality between (a) the subject and the material world, (b) the subject and others, and (c) the subject and itself.