A Commentary on Drodge and Reid's 'Embodied Cognition and the Mathematical Emotional Orientation'

摘要

In a recent issue of Mathematical Thinking and Learning, Drodge and Reid (2000) expressed the hope that the concept of an emotional orientation may prove useful in analyzing, interpreting, and researching mathematical activity. I comment on two main themes addressed in this article: (a) the conceptual analysis of structures or processes (e.g., cognition and emotion) presumed to operate within the individual, and (b) the interchange between these "internal structures" and the broader notion of a community emotional orientation. Drodge and Reid's enactivist perspective provides an alternative conceptualization of intra- and interpersonal functioning. This article raises many salient questions concerning the origin and nature of human cognition and emotion, as well as their interconnections with community emotional orientations. My goal is to draw attention to several issues that warrant further theoretical and research attention. The commentary is meant as a constructive, as opposed to a critical, reaction to the authors' work, which reflects my academic emotional orientation and that expressed by English (2000).