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| ISSO Y2004 Annual Report | Contents Robinson
Crusoe in Outer Space: The Power of the Imagination / 41-44 Abstract--The imagination is seeded with knowledge; the data knowledge provides us leads to understanding. In its beneficent state, the imagination helps build complex ideas from sensible impressions. On the other hand, when the imagination derives from an agitated or irrational state, it characterizes itself as madness. The third volume of the Robinson Crusoe trilogy is titled the Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720). Appended to it is the little known narrative of Robinson Crusoe's travels into outer space entitled A Vision of the Angelick World. Crusoe gains access to outer space not by virtue of fabricated wings and not by riding on the backs of eagles or by sailing in hot air balloons, nor is his visit to space consequent of a dream vision. He achieves space flight solely by the reach of his imagination. Crusoe says that "things"--a word exclusively restricted to sensible objects--become apparent to him in his imagination. His knowledge of the construct of the "Invisible World" leads him to see "the Ideas of Distant Things . . . in the Mind." The flexibility of the mind allows him to envision himself in outer space visiting the regions of heavenly bodies he has been discussing with a friend. Thus, Daniel Defoe has Robinson Crusoe explain his presence in space by the "Power of Imagination."
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