Philosophy Dictionary:
Archimedean point
Metaphor derived from Archimedes's alleged saying that if he had a fulcrum and a lever long enough, he could move the earth. The Archimedean point is a point ‘outside’ from which a different, perhaps objective or ‘true’ picture of something is obtainable. It might be a view of time from outside time, a view of science from elsewhere, a view of spatial reality from nowhere. Philosophers of a sceptical or anti-realist bent, as well as deflationists and minimalists, often claim that such an alleged standpoint is merely fantastical, and the alleged objectivity of the view mythical.
