On the Formal Cause of Diagrams: Mimesis and Phenomenology

We investigate the formal cause of diagrams, initially realizing that diagrams have no obvious form. It is argued their form is to mimic expert perspectives. This perspective provides a organizational structure that represents the relations important in understanding the worldly situation. We then shift to a study of how we are to understand an expert perspective. Using the distinction between intuitive and formal logic, logica utens versus logica docens, we identify games of habituation: games of focus and distraction. The skills required for games of focus and distraction are phenomenological in regulating the way we see, i.e., how we approach and analyze different situations. This unique phenomenological skill is characteristic of diagrammatic reasoning.