The cognitive origins of geometry

Geometry is often considered the model of abstract thought, and great thinkers since at leastPlato have sought its origins. Particular, modular “languages of thought” have been invoked toexplain humans’ unique cognitive achievements in certain domains, including geometry.Contrary to this hypothesis, I propose that human geometry is largely rooted in navigation-likemental processes that approximate Euclidean geometry and are shared by humans and nonhumananimals. Humans uniquely can access this geometry with natural language and use it flexibly innovel contexts, ultimately supporting our capacity for formal learning. I thus provide a model forcognitive explanations of uniquely human knowledge that relies on the interaction between ourevolutionary cognitive inheritance and our species-unique natural language.