And I Will Try To Fix You…

Do you suppose it is beyond us
to produce a dual system of astronomy?
The stars can be near or distant,
according as we need them.
Do you suppose our mathematicians
are unequal to that?
Have you forgotten doublethink? ¹

Nineteen Eighty-Four

In fact most of Copernicus’ book runs closely parallel with Ptolemy’s exposition, only the minimum changes being made to adjust the treatment of the Sun-centered theory; and most of the numerical constants are simply Ptolemy’s figures transformed.

Not unnaturally, Copernicus had not rid himself completely of the old Earth-centered terminology, and the centre of the universe for him is still the centre of Earth’s orbit.

In fact, a modern geometer might observe that as a matter of pure mathematics it makes no difference to the relation between them whether A revolves around B or B around A, as long as they are both regarded as points –
but psychologically there is a great difference. ²

A.M. Duncan (translator introduction)
Nicolaus Copernicus
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

Are you in a universe which is ruled by natural laws and, therefore, is stable, firm, absolute—and knowable?

Or are you in an incomprehensible chaos, a realm of inexplicable miracles, an unpredictable, unknowable flux, which your mind is impotent to grasp?

Are the things you see around you real—or are they only an illusion?

Do they exist independent of any observer—or are they created by the observer?

Are they the object or the subject of man’s consciousness?

Are they what they are—or can they be changed by a mere act of your consciousness, such as a wish?

The nature of your actions — and of your ambition — will be different, according to which set of answers you come to accept. These answers are the province of metaphysics — the study of existence as such or, in Aristotle’s words, of “being qua being” — the basic branch of philosophy. ⁴

Ayn Rand
Philosophy: Who Needs It