Conceptual Spaces — an interactive 3D map of the mind
Aristotle mapped the mind 2,300 years before cognitive science.
Peter Gärdenfors' conceptual spaces framework models concepts as geometry: quality dimensions form domains, concepts are convex regions, typicality is distance from a prototype. This visualization places that framework in the middle of the Aristotelian-Thomistic cognitive hierarchy — formal reception through the senses below it, the immaterial intellect above it — showing how the classical psychology fills the two gaps the modern framework leaves open. It is the interactive companion to the paper Beyond and Below Cognitive Space: A Framework for Perfecting Conceptual Spaces by Michael Mangialardi.
The three layers
Below: Formal Reception : Reality → Senses → Common Sense → Phantasm
Middle: Cogitative / Conceptual Spaces : Gestalt percepts → Geometric categories → Memory
Above: Intellect : Universal, necessary grasp of essences
The eight stations
Sensible Reality ( Formal species from things ): Real things act upon sense organs, transmitting formal sensible species. This grounds geometric cognition in contact with reality.
External Senses ( Per se sensibles (color, sound…) ): Particular sense-objects: color (sight), sound (hearing), savor (taste), heat/moisture (touch). Each sense receives only its proper object.
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