The Imperialist Map

If the view from space failed to offer any real escape from earth-bound perspectives as far as superpower relations and ideology were concerned, the same might be said of its impact on a broader philosophical debate. A writer in the Soviet journal International Affairs greeted the launch of Sputnik as a reaffirmation of the correctness of Marxist materialism, refuting ‘idealistic theories that the world is “unknowable”, that the objective world does not exist but is only a product of the human consciousness.’ 3 Thus continued a debate as long as the history of Western philosophy itself. Materialist philosophy generally asserts that ultimate reality exists at the level of physical objects external to any human thought or understanding. Idealism counters that the pure actions of such objects upon the body can never be experienced because of the various ways either the sense organs or the understanding always shape or filter that which is perceived. Cultural cartographies cannot be reduced to either of these perspectives. In the socio-cultural sphere that we inhabit, reality is grounded only in the map-like grids of its own constructed landscape. On such a terrain it is impossible to make absolute distinctions between levels such as the base and superstructure of Marxist theory, however useful they might be as strategic tools in particular situations. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Aesthetics · Consciousness · Dialectical materialism · Epistemology · Idealism · Ideology · Marxist philosophy · Materialism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Superpower · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Philosophy · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life