Maps of Unknown Territory
It is interesting to look at old maps of the world, when the parts of the Earth's surface were not well known. The rough shapes of landmasses are in place, but their details are left to the imagination. The areas that were not yet explored (to this mapmaker's knowledge, anyway) were often embroidered with fanciful scrolls or lettered warnings or fanciful images: mermaids, sea-monsters or warnings that "Heere theyr bee dragonnes". The edges of the known world, in other words, were populated with fantasies and imaginary creatures.
To a certain extent this occurs in any map, whether it is of geographical territory or some other aspect of reality. The humours believed to be injected into the tides of the blood in Galen's time were such, as were the angels said to be peeking through every star in the galaxy. So to was caloric imagined to explain heat transfer.Thus, also, are our political dialogues often populated with imaginary demons when the substance of a situation is not well-viewed. God in his heavens turning the sun around the Earth, against which Galileo tried to make his early scientific proofs, is another one. Yet, nevertheless, it moves. When the territory is better explored by actual experience -- by sailors following the course to the world's edge and finding only more world -- the edges of the known are expanded, and the fantastic creatures that populate the unknown are moved back.
There is a lot to be said about this mechanism, which is widely popular. The contents of the imaginary, and the boundaries of the known, vary dramatically of course, depending on the viewer and the area of knowing under consideration. But there may be a commonality in this observed mechanism that is worth keeping an eye on, especially when one is deciding whether or not to face the demons that dance at the edges of the known and possibly run the terrible risk of dispelling them.
To a certain extent this occurs in any map, whether it is of geographical territory or some other aspect of reality. The humours believed to be injected into the tides of the blood in Galen's time were such, as were the angels said to be peeking through every star in the galaxy. So to was caloric imagined to explain heat transfer.Thus, also, are our political dialogues often populated with imaginary demons when the substance of a situation is not well-viewed. God in his heavens turning the sun around the Earth, against which Galileo tried to make his early scientific proofs, is another one. Yet, nevertheless, it moves. When the territory is better explored by actual experience -- by sailors following the course to the world's edge and finding only more world -- the edges of the known are expanded, and the fantastic creatures that populate the unknown are moved back.
There is a lot to be said about this mechanism, which is widely popular. The contents of the imaginary, and the boundaries of the known, vary dramatically of course, depending on the viewer and the area of knowing under consideration. But there may be a commonality in this observed mechanism that is worth keeping an eye on, especially when one is deciding whether or not to face the demons that dance at the edges of the known and possibly run the terrible risk of dispelling them.
