round it.'
Winston made another convulsive movement. This time he did not say
anything. O'Brien continued as though answering a spoken objection:
'For certain purposes, of course, that is not true. When we navigate
the ocean, or when we predict an eclipse, we often find it convenient to
assume that the earth goes round the sun and that the stars are millions
upon millions of kilometres away. But what of it? 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?'
Winston shrank back upon the bed. Whatever he said, the swift answer
crushed him like a bludgeon. And yet he knew, he knew, that he was in the
right. The belief that nothing exists outside your own mind -- surely there
must be some way of demonstrating that it was false? Had it not been
exposed long ago as a fallacy? There was even a name