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ADD Philosophers Corner
Article (PART 1-this issue/ Part 2 -next issue):
on the other hand, has evolved from the achievements of science, from its rational and self-cor-
Science, Proof, and the Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis - by Pasqual S. Scheivella rective method, and from the public evidence it has off ered, however incomplete, in fulfi llment
of its predictions. It must be understood, then, that I am an ardent proponent of science. Th at is
why I become so disturbed by dogmatists like Carl Sagan who destroy the credibility of science by
Th e Philosopher’s Corner with Dr. Pasqual S. Schievella (look at old LT issues to see what this claiming for it more than it can deliver and by refusing to give the ancient astronaut hypothesis
recurring feature is – by the way, this is such a large article, it can be split into 2 double issues) the scientifi c consideration it deserves.
Science, Proof, and the Ancient Astronaut Hypothesis Th e Case for von Däniken
Original article has no pictures, so this is our chance to illustrate this article the way it was It is common knowledge that it is both possible and probable that intelligent beings exist else-
always meant to be, thank you where in the Universe. Even Sagan admits that. To assume otherwise is to regress to the Middle
Ages, when it was believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and man the supreme
(Th is article was fi rst published in 1983 and is reprinted here with permission of the author.) creation.
Th at extraterrestrial intelligences visited Earth in antiquity and altered the course of human Historian Will Durant, in his Story of Civilization, suggests that we are not necessarily the de-
history is an old hypothesis, off ered anew by authors such as Erich von Däniken. Although scendants of the primitive cultures to which archaeologists and anthropologists like to, attribute
I am sympathetic to this thesis, the main thrust of this paper is a criticism of the behavior of our ancestry. His thesis, and the mysteries that science has not explained, suggest the possibility
skeptics, particularly scientists, in the broadest sense of that term. As a historical hypothesis, that ancient space travelers visited earth. No argument based on such data as problems of interga-
the merits of the ancient astronaut hypothesis should be weighed against the available evidence lactic travel and the vastness of space has yet proved that superior intelligence could not accom-
with rigorous scientifi c scrutiny. plish what we, with our few centuries of limited scientifi c technology and theory, believe to be
impossible.
Unfortunately, this has not occurred. Instead, the scientifi c community has attacked both the
hypothesis and von Däniken with outrage and abuse. His evidence has been dismissed with It is both possible and probable that ancient astronauts did visit Earth. Th is cannot be denied un-
ridicule. Th e hypothesis is assailed with fallacious reasoning and an appeal to authority. Equally less one holds that evolution is impossible, or that there is no evolution and God created only us
disturbing is the stony silence of "experts" regarding the evidence for the hypothesis. Th is (a point that raises questions on which no evidence could be brought to bear), or that such evolu-
silence, and the attacks of critics like Ronald Story [1], supported by Carl Sagan, clearly show tion as there has been took place only on Earth, or that except for us there are no astronauts or
that a scientifi c evaluation is not forthcoming. other intelligences in the Universe, or that the evidence is all in as to our origin, or that we have
absolute knowledge about these things, and the like. Surely, no enlightened person could hold
In what follows, I shall attempt to present the case for von Däniken. I shall then examine some such medieval ideas.
of the criticisms frequently made against the ancient astronaut hypothesis.
Unless we deny the possibility of evolution elsewhere in the Universe or pretend to an absolute
It should be noted at the outset that this examination of such irrationality on the part of many knowledge regarding our past, we must recognize at least the possibility that technologically
scientists is in no way to be interpreted as my having a lack of faith in science. In point of fact, advanced civilizations may have arisen elsewhere and that they may have visited us in the remote
I have as much faith in science as some believers have in the existence of an anthropomorphic past.
God. Th eistic faith, however, has evolved out of the irrational hopes, fears, and reifi cation of the
unknown. It is a faith for which there is no evidence, in any reasonable sense of that term. It Th e ancient astronaut hypothesis, then, is at least possible. As to proof of von Däniken's theories,
is indeed, more oft en than not, a faith in spite of evidence to the contrary. My faith in science, it must be noted that the ancient astronaut hypothesis cannot be expected to follow the rigid rules
and standards of proof set for natural science. Its modes of proof are primarily like those in the
62 Legendary Times Magazine Vol. 11, No. 3 & 4 of 4 Vol. 11, No. 1 & 2 of 4 Legvendary Times Magazine 63