  Anton Pannekoek (1873-1960) was both an influential Marxist and an innovative
astronomer. This paper will analyse the various innovative methods that he
developed to represent the visual aspect of the Milky Way and the statistical
distribution of stars in the galaxy through a framework of epistemic virtues.
Doing so will not emphasize the unique aspects of his astronomical research,
but also reveal its connections to his left radical brand of Marxism. A crucial
feature of Pannekoek's astronomical method was the active role ascribed to
astronomers. They were expected to use their intuitive ability to organize data
according to the appearance of the Milky Way, while at the same time they had
to avoid the influence of personal experience and theoretical presuppositions
about the shape of the system. With this method, he produced results that went
against the Kapteyn Universe and instead made him the first astronomer in the
Netherlands to find supporting evidence for Harlow Shapley's extended galaxy.
After exploring Pannekoek's Marxist philosophy, it is argued that both his
astronomical method and his interpretation of historical materialism can be
seen as strategies developed to make optical use of his particular conception
of the human mind.
