Abstract
In this paper, Euclidean geometry is described as a paradigm for science that has had an enormous impact on Western thinking and education. We will outline first, the foundations of Euclid’s Elements. Secondly, what characterises the Euclidean paradigm and explain its importance as a product of its origin in the ideas of the most celebrated thinkers in Western history. Thirdly, how this Euclidean paradigm has had an impact on scientific reasoning on three different scientific fields presented as examples of the paradigm in action. We will analyse such fields to seek, in the foundations of their thinking and tradition, statements about what a ‘proper scientific approach’ should look like. Finally, we will discuss the connection between the Euclidean paradigm and the constitution of a particular subject through school mathematics. We conclude that Euclid’s Elements are much more than just an axiomatic mathematical structure. They are a view of science, an ideology about how to think; a form of geometry entangled in our notion of science and in the configuration of education for making productive citizens in society.
