Infinity and the Fourth Dimension

A HANDS-ON WORKSHOP IN PROJECTIVE GEOMETRY WITH JOE QUINN, PhD

In contrast to the type of geometry typically taught in schools, where space goes on forever in every direction, projective geometry includes infinity into its arithmetic and draws a relationship between unbounded distance and a higher spatial dimension. Rudolf Steiner indicated the study of projective geometry as important to understanding non-physical reality. For example, at a lecture in Stuttgart on September 2, 1906, he explained: “In astral space, it is impossible to continue to infinity. Physical space is open to the fourth dimension. Height and width are two dimensions, and the third is the lifting out and entering into the fourth dimension. A different geometry prevails astral space.” (Found on p. 88 of the collection of Steiner lectures The Fourth Dimension.)

Come discover these principles for yourself though a guided exploration of projective geometry, where we will play with hands-on materials and study some introductory computations.

While this is a hands-on event, there will be hybrid availability on Zoom. Full participation in the exercises requires live attendance, however.

Joe Quinn is currently a doctoral lecturer at the College of Staten Island and the director of the math-art collective Hypothesis. He has been writing and teaching enrichment math workshops since 2012 for people of all skill levels, working in that capacity with the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Bronx Community College, Matemórfosis (Guanajuato, Mexico), Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics, and Columbia University. He was drawn to projective geometry as a topic for middle school students by his own intuition, which later developed into his relationship with anthroposophy, of which he has been a student since 2021.