"The main objection to the theory of pure visualization is our thesis that the non-Euclidean axioms can be visualized just as rigorously if we adjust the concept of congruence. This thesis is based on the discovery that the normative function of visualization is not of visual but of logical origin and that the intuitive acceptance of certain axioms is based on conditions from which they follow logically, and which have previously been smuggled into the images. The axiom that the straight line is the shortest distance is highly intuitive only because we have adapted the concept of straightness to the system of Eucidean concepts. It is therefore necessary merely to change these conditions to gain a correspondingly intuitive and clear insight into different sets of axioms; this recognition strikes at the root of the intuitive priority of Euclidean geometry. Our solution of the problem is a denial of pure visualization, inasmuch as it denies to visualization a special extralogical compulsion and points out the purely logical and nonintuitive origin of the normative function. Since it asserts, however, the possibility of a visual representation of all geometries, it could be understood as an extension of pure visualization to all geometries. In that case the predicate "pure" is but an empty addition, since it denotes only the difference between experienced and imagined pictures, and we shall therefore discard the term "pure visualization." Instead we shall speak of the normative function of the thinking process, which can guide the pictorial elements of thinking into any logically permissible structure."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from GermanyJews from GermanyPhilosophers from GermanyPeople from HamburgEducators from Germany
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Reichenbach
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Hans Reichenbach
Hans Reichenbach (26 September 1891 – 9 April 1953) was a leading philosopher of science, educator and proponent of logical positivism.
38 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Hans Reichenbach →
Related Quotes
"It is remarkable that this generalization of plane geometry to surface geometry is identical with that generalization…"
"If heat were the affecting force, direct indications of its presence could be found which would not make use of geome…"
"Although it is admitted that certain differences cannot be verified by experiment, we should not infer from this fact…"
"The surfaces of three-dimensional space are distinguished from each other not only by their curvature but also by cer…"
"...the stereographic projection of the spherical surface. From the north pole P we draw radial lines to project every…"
"...the order of betweenness does not depend on mutual distances... betweenness is purely a relational order."
"...the relation of betweenness on the torus is undetermined for curves that cannot be contracted to a point [e.g., ci…"
"Euclidean geometry can be easily visualized; this is the argument adduced for the unique position of Euclidean geomet…"
"...the differential element of non-Euclidean spaces is Euclidean. This fact, however, is analogous to the relations b…"
"If along the path of truth, success (which was often near-failure unnoticed) is subjected to the same scrutiny and de…"