7 12.1.1: Reasoned Analysis and Empirical Claims
Reasoned Analysis
Question at issue:
What made the Hollow Earth Theory convincing?
Evidence and Information:
- Eye witness testimonies of Hollow Earth inhabitants
- Scientific theories of what the Hollow Earth looks like
- Psychological data on what makes people believe certain things
- Hollow earth in relation to findings of Earth sciences
Assumptions:
- The Hollow Earth Theory is a pseudoscience
- Extraterrestrial beings living inside Earth are false and exaggerated
- Geological sciences can be trusted
- People choose to believe things because of media influence, political alignment, pressures from peers and family, desires for certain outcomes, etc.
Concepts:
- Mythology
- Oral history
- Pseudoscience
- Gravity & Physics
- Inner Earth beings
- Core, mantle, crust
- Epistemology
- Media
- Aryan race
Context:
- Historical
- Political
- Cultural
- Scientific
Point of View:
- Writer
- Politician
- Hollow earth believer
- Geologist
- Psychologist
Purpose:
- To find out why people choose to believe fringe or pseudosciences over actual sciences
- To uncover the political motives surrounding the theory
- To discover the role that media played in people’s belief in this theory
Implications and Consequences:
- People are susceptible to false beliefs because of outside influences such as the media, political alignments, and family
- The HET contradicts established geological science
- The HET provides misleading and false information, which can lead to misinterpretation and supporting beliefs without logical evidence
Conclusions and Interpretations:
While people believed in the HET due to the pressures of the media, influential political leaders, and relationships, there is no scientific evidence that supports this theory. The believers must defy proven sciences such as geology, biology, and physics in order to believe in the theory. Thus, the Hollow Earth Theory can be categorized as a pseudoscience.
Alternatives
- Instead of a completely hollow Earth, there could be some regions within Earth’s layers that have their own ecosystems and way of life separate from our society
Disciplinary Lenses
Psychological Lens
Question at issue
How can studying the psychological lens help understand why people believe in the Hollow Earth Theory?
Evidence and Information
- Psychological studies, human behavioral studies.
- An article titled “Why don’t facts change our minds” by Elizabeth Kolbert shares findings related to why people tend to engrave a belief when it is presented to them by an authority figure.
- 19th-century respected physician Cyrus Teed shared pamphlets that outlined his view of a hollow Earth. These pamphlets inspired many as Teed was respected in science.
Assumptions
People must have a good reason to deny an abundance of refuting information. Why is that?
Concepts
Humanistic behavior, cognition, biological characteristics
Context
- Hollow Earth started gaining traction near the same time psychology became a respected science.
- Political landscapes of the early 20th century.
Point of View
Psychologist, behavioral scientist
Purpose
Finding out why people believe in the Hollow Earth Theory when presented with refuting information.
Implications and Consequences
- Entire populations such as Nazi Germany have been convinced that the Earth is hollow.
- “A mouse led to believe there are no cats around, would soon be dinner”.
- Someone who believes in Hollow Earth has abandoned their critical thinking skills and therefore is easily swept into conspiracy theories and pseudosciences.
Conclusions and Interpretations
Science is a way to correct people’s natural inclinations; therefore, when it is denied, the truth doesn’t always surface.
Geological Lens
Question at issue
How can geology dispel the Hollow Earth Theory?
Evidence and Information
- Vertical Deflection Experiments
- Seismic wave analysis
Assumptions
- Amount of time it takes for seismic waves to travel
- Why seismic wave analysis works
- Gravity has effects on the formation of Earth.
Concepts:
- Earth’s layers (crust, mantle, core)
- What core consists of (iron & nickel)
- Seismic waves
Context:
- History of geology
- Political & scientific environments
Point of View:
- Geologist
- Seismologist
- Physicist/geophysicist (Pierre Bouguer)
Purpose:
- To prove the Earth is not hollow through the study of geology
- To better understand what geological information Hollow Earth believers use to promote this theory
- To find out how we know what Earth consists of
- To find out what Earth consists of
Implications and Consequences :
- If the Earth was proven to be hollow, then it would completely discredit all science that has supported Earth not being hollow. This sends people down a rabbit hole, wondering if they could trust science.
- People choose what they want to believe & what they do not want to believe
Conclusions and Interpretations:
Geological practices to prove the Earth is not hollow have been tested and repeated many times, leading to a fair assumption that the Earth is not hollow because of the scientific
Alternatives:
- Early 19th century- John Cleves Symmes (Symmes Holes)= 4,000 miles wide holes at the poles
- 1906- William Reed’s book The Phantom of the Poles argued Symmes’ Holes were so large as to make the poles nonexistent
- 1913- Marshall B Gardner’s Journey to the Earth’s Interior suggested the holes were only 1,000 ft wide & that the sun, 600 miles in diameter, existed within the Earth to provide heat & light to hollow Earth inhabitants
Folklore Lens
Question at issue
How can studying myths help us understand why people believed in the Hollow Earth theory?
Evidence and Information
- Richard Shaver testimonies
- Novels, magazines by Richard Shaver, Raymond Palmer, Cyrus Teed
- Journalistic accounts
- News reports
- Ethnographic accounts (study of a group of people)
Assumptions:
- Studying myths can tell us about why people believe certain things
- Folklore can spread via media and powerful authority figures
Concepts:
- Advanced cultures & scientific abilities
- Good vs evil
- Extraterrestrial race
- Aryan race
- Teros, Deros, Titans
Context:
- The Coming Race (1871): This novel by Bulwer-Lytton describes a technologically advanced subterranean race that thrived w in the Earth with an advanced culture & advanced scientific abilities that plotted to one day ascend from the world below & destroy surface population to win control of the planet
- Cyrus Teed (late 1800s-early 1900s): physician turned pseudoscientist who founded the beliefs of Koreshanity. This belief system was used in Nazi Germany by Adolf Hitler
Point of View:
- Folklorist
- Anthropologist
- Literature studies
Purpose:
- To show Hollow Earth contributed to folklore
- To show how Folklore contributed to the Hollow Earth theory
- Shaver (1940s)- claimed to have ventured into Hollow Earth & met its inhabitants
- “Shaver’s Mystery” (1947): A story published by Raymond A. Palmer that further developed Shaver’s theory: a technologically advanced world with mystical creatures
Implications & Consequences:
- These myths have significantly influenced popular culture scientific theories and impacted the perceptions of the unknown
- The myth of an advanced race could perpetuate narratives of racial superiority within a particular cultural or ethnic group
Conclusions & Interpretations:
Studying myths helps provide an understanding of the societal, cultural, and psychological factors that influence belief systems. Shaver’s and Hitler’s interpretation of the advanced civilization residing under the earth’s surface influences people to partake in these supernatural tendencies and superiority complexes designed to divide society members into social rankings.
Alternatives:
The inhabitants of Hollow Earth could be a remnant or representation of an ancient, advanced civilization that thrived in the past
Empirical Claims
Inductive Reasoning:
Premise 1: Halley’s 1692 book, The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, was published.
Premise 2: This book compares the mass of the moon to the mass of the earth to draw
Conclusion: This book attempts to prove that the earth is hollow
Deductive Reasoning:
Premise 1: The idea that “caverns and caves” provide direct access to a “strange inverted world below Earth’s surface.”
Premise 2: These caverns & caves lead to a Hollow Earth that consists of exotic, extraterrestrial creatures.
Conclusion: The Hollow Earth can be accessed through caverns & caves with exotic, extraterrestrial creatures.
Abductive Reasoning:
Premise 1: “Unusual geofacts,” such as fossils, exist within the earth’s surface.
Premise 2: These “unusual geofacts” suggest the concept of an “inner world.”
Conclusion: The Hollow Earth can be proven true through the findings of “unusual geofacts,” or fossils, within Earth’s surface.
Logical Fallacies
Appeal to ignorance:
Symmes claims that there are “openings” or “access points” in the North and South poles that lead to the “interior world.” This argument suggests that because there’s no evidence disproving the existence of these openings, they must exist. `
Red herring:
Some Hollow Earth believers argue that the US government is hiding a secret relating to extraterrestrial creatures or a superior race within the Earth.
Ambiguity:
Halley’s argument stating that earthquakes, volcanoes, karst swallow holes & sinkholes, springs, and wells prove that not all of the earth is “solid underfoot” relies on ambiguous diction and equivocation between different geological phenomena. While these natural occurrences suggest variability in Earth’s makeup, the term “solid underfoot” can be left to interpretation and possibly combine various geological processes that do not exactly suggest a hollow interior.
Appeal to authority:
Hitler’s authoritative position as a dictator attributed to people’s appeal to the Hollow Earth theory. His authoritative position in politics does not directly qualify him as an expert in the science field, specifically geology. So, he relies on his power to persuade people into his Hollow Earth beliefs despite its lack of data or validity.
Cherry picking:
In reality, Hollow Earth believers do not necessarily cherry-pick evidence because of their lack of evidence backing their theory. Almost all scientific evidence disproves Hollow Earth Theory therefore, there isn’t much evidence to cherry-pick.
Neglect of refuting information:
Scientists in geology, seismology, and other concentrations that investigate the inside of the Earth have proven that the core of the Earth is highly pressurized and solid, not hollow. Nonetheless, believers of the Hollow Earth Theory neglect this information.