Archimedean Points in a Network of Cosmological Metaphors

JohannGottliebFichte'sfirsttr eatise, ConcerningtheConceptof the 'W issenschaftslehre' (UberdenBegriffderW issenschaftslehreoder der sogenannten Philosophie, 1794), is a text built in no small measure upon metaphors. Unlike the increasingly abstract lectures on the theory ofkno wledge, the 1794 tr eatiseiso rganizedar oundtwofield so fim agery: constructionandcosmology . ThesetwofieldsoverlapinthattheEarth doubles as a planet in the universe and the foundation upon which people raisebuildings. Bothmetaphoricalfieldscometogethermostpr ominently when Fichte draws on the anecdote about Archimedes' promise to dis- placetheEarthifcouldhejustfindalongenoughleverandafirmpoint beyond our world to place his fulcrum. The Ar chimedeanpoint playsanimportantr oleintheintel- lectual topography of the eighteenth century, especially in German Ideal- ism and Romanticism. Hans Jurgen Balmes and Hans-Joachim Mahl, the editors of the standard Novalis edition, write that during that period the Archimedesanecdotewasusedasacomparisontotheabsolutejustifica - tion of consciousness and, as such, is quoted by Fichte, Kant, Schelling, and others (Kommentar 362). Othershaveemphasizeddiffer entelementsof theanecdoteanddrawnondiffer entepisodesfr omthelifeofAr chimedes. JocelynHolland, inherstudyofthepointasaRomanticfigur eofthought, elaborates two ancient Greek accounts which provide an opportunity to interpret theAr chimedeanpoint asthesolidgr oundunderone'sfeetor the resting point of the lever (99). The concept of the Archimedean point has several aspects which can be used for interpretation. In the period under consideration in this essay, references to the Archimedean point combine its traditional aspects with new elements, often deriveed from recentscientificdiscoveries. Fichtemakesanimportantcontributionin this regard, because in his discussion of the Archimedean point he takes the concept of gravity into consideration. Against the backdrop of the cosmological metaphors of his time, I contend that the inclusion of gravity playedasignificantr oleinthedepartur efr omametaphysicsbasedona conceptofsubstanceinfavorofasubject-orientedthinking

Anecdote · Art · Consciousness · Epistemology · German · Ideal (ethics) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Romanticism · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Philosophy

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