Monday, July 16, 2012

Motility and Copernican Revolution

As has been previously discussed, Kant's phrase, at B xvii of the 1st Critique, characterizing Copernicus' insight, in which "the spectator is made to revolve", can be interpreted either as 'the spectator is made to revolve around the Sun', as tradition has it, or as 'the spectator is made to rotate around the axis of the Earth, as urged here.  Still, there is a more literal alternative to both, namely, that the spectator, independent of the Earth at which it is located, and of any celestial phenomena, simply itself describes a circular motion.  Now, the thought "made to" connotes a deliberate, spontaneous process, which, ultimately, can be only that of one setting oneself into a revolving motion, e. g. a ballerina spinning on her toe.  In other words, Motility is presupposed by Kant's Copernican revolution, with the spinning of the Earth on its axis the more immediate analog of that self-contained motion.

No comments:

Post a Comment