The Copernican Revolution as a Spatial Methaphor

Abstract

The author specifies the origin of the terms “Copernican Upheaval” and “Copernican Revolution” considering the spatial interpretations of this philosophical metaphor, which was evoked by the Kantian analogy between his model of knowledge process and the model of the solar system by Copernicus. On the base of Solomon Maimon’s criticism and subsequent scientific discussion, the author studies the analogy between a rotation of celestial bodies and the conformity of objects to knowing reason. As the result, the author offers two approaches to the interpretation of the spatial analogy of the Copernican Revolution. 1) As the analogy of mobility (plasticity) and immobility (immutability) of celestial bodies / reason in relation to knowable objects. 2) As the analogy of relativity and absoluteness of movement / cognition, leads to the question of the starting point and direction of predication in cognitive trajectories.