Frontmatter -- Table of contents -- Thinking and diagrams - An introduction -- I. What is a diagram and how does it function? -- 1. On the "thing-ness" of diagrams -- 2. The role of diagrams in abductive reasoning -- 3. Behind the diagrams: cognitive issues and open problems -- 4. Diagrammatic problem solving -- 5. Is there a general diagram concept? -- 6. The diagrammatic nature of maps -- II. Diagrammatic scenes -- 7. Is there a diagrammatic impulse with Plato? 'Quasi-diagrammatic-scenes' in Plato's philosophy -- 8. The diagram as board game: Semiotic discoveries in Alfonso the Wise's Book of Games (1283 CE) - with some observations as to Gudea as Architect (2000 BCE) -- 9. Pattern language and space syntax: Alexander, Chomsky, Peirce and Wittgenstein -- References -- Index of names -- Index of subjects