Copernican Revolution
Imagery is revealed to be an essential element in the ability to convey the foundation of the Copernican Revolution. Copernicus forever changed astronomy by approaching an irreconcilable paradox by approaching the problematic nature from the position of simple preceptive sensory imagery:
“Copernicus, finding that no progress was being made with the theory of the revolving heavens, broke the deadlock by turning the tables, as it were: he assumed that it is not the heavens which revolve while we the observers stand still, but that we the observers revolve while the heavens stand still. In a similar way...the problem of scientific knowledge is to be solved…We must give up the view that we are passive observers, waiting for nature to impress its regularity upon us…we must adopt the view that in digesting our sense-data we actively impress the order and the laws of our intellect upon them. Our cosmos bears the imprint of our minds.”
Observe!
The author describes a time when he was giving a lecture on physicals to students. The lesson commenced with a simple directive to carefully observe and write down what has been observed. The lesson is not really about observation, but the nature of language and how certain verbs required subjective clarification to keep any such directive from becoming an absurdity:
“Observation is always selective. It needs a chosen object, a definite task, an interest, a point of view, a problem. And its description presupposes a descriptive language, with property words; it presupposes similarity and classification, which in their turn presuppose interests, points of view, and problems. 'A hungry animal', writes Katz, 'divides the environment into edible and inedible things. An animal in flight sees roads to escape and hiding places. Generally speaking, objects change according to the needs of the animal.’”
Tyranny and Democracy
Imagery is engaged to define the different between democracy and a tyrannical alternative. The imagery is perhaps a bit more edgy than one might use on their own, but there is little room for denying that Popper nails the differentiation in a way more formal and sophisticated terminology would not do quite as well:
“There are only two kinds of governmental institutions, those which provide for a change of the government without bloodshed, and those which do not…We need not quarrel about words, and about such pseudo-problems as the true or essential meaning of the word 'democracy'. You can choose whatever name you like for the two types of government. I personally prefer to call the type of government which can be removed without violence 'democracy', and the other 'tyranny.'"
Who Really won WWII?
A striking bit of imagery is expressed by the author to make his case that the Nazis may have lost the war, but ultimately emerge as the triumphant victors of the 20th century. The atrocity exhibition which was Nazi Germany forever altered the reading of the moral compass of humanity in ways that would not have been so otherwise:
“the spirit of Hitlerism won its greatest victory over us when, after its defeat, we used the weapons which the threat of Nazism had induced us to develop.”
