Archimedean point

English

Etymology

In reference to the ancient mathematician Archimedes, who supposedly claimed that he could lift the Earth off its foundation if he were given a place to stand, one solid point, and a long enough lever. Attributed to French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist René Descartes.

Noun

Archimedean point (plural Archimedean points)

1. A hypothetical viewpoint from which certain objective truths can be perfectly perceived, or from which one may reliably start a chain of reasoning.
   • 1963, Hannah Arendt, “The Conquest of Space and the Stature of Man”, in R. M. Hutchins, M. J. Adler, editors, The Great Ideas Today, William Benton, page 46:

     In terms of this development, the attempt to conquer space means that man hopes he will be able to journey to the Archimedean point which he anticipated by sheer force of abstraction and imagination.

   • 2021, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chapter 8, in God, Human, Animal, Machine […] , →ISBN:

     There is no Archimedean point, no purely objective vista that allows us to transcend our human interests and see the world from above, as we once imagined it appeared to God. It is our distinctive vantage that binds us to the world and sets the necessary limitations that are required to make sense of it.