Another sighting of the flat earth myth. In high school textbooks.
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Saturday, December 05, 2009
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The Latin word Quodlibeta means "whatever you like" and refers to the special occasions at medieval universities when the students (or clerks as they were known) could test their masters by asking any question they fancied. This blog is primarily concerned with religion, science, history and their interface. But like the medieval clerks, we reserve the right to post on anything we want.
Meet the Clerks
James Hannam
I am a historian of the relationship between science and religion, and also write on the UK tax system. My first book was published as God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science in the UK and The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution in the US. My apologetics website is Bede's Library. I am also the author What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax and write about tax at my other blog. I can be found on Twitter as @DrJamesHannam.
Humphrey Clarke
I am a historian of a very middling and amateurish sort. Having taken a Masters in Modern History at the University of St Andrews (2004), I completed a law conversion course at Nottingham Law School and embarked upon what has been an exciting career in legal technology. My chief interests are in Twentieth Century History, Colonial America, Historiography and, most recently, the History of Science. I also write a satirical blog at The Diary of Humphrey Clarke. I hope my contributions to Quodlibeta capture something of the pleasure I get from trawling my dusty collection of second hand history books.
Jim S
I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Master's degrees in Philosophy and Theology. I'm a generalist, my areas of expertise being epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and science and religion. I did my philosophical studies in Continental Europe, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. I also write the Agent Intellect blog. In my mid-20s I decided to refute Christianity to set my conscience at ease. Two subjects I turned to in particular were science and philosophy. I accidentally argued myself into it.
I am a historian of the relationship between science and religion, and also write on the UK tax system. My first book was published as God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science in the UK and The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution in the US. My apologetics website is Bede's Library. I am also the author What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax and write about tax at my other blog. I can be found on Twitter as @DrJamesHannam.
Humphrey Clarke
I am a historian of a very middling and amateurish sort. Having taken a Masters in Modern History at the University of St Andrews (2004), I completed a law conversion course at Nottingham Law School and embarked upon what has been an exciting career in legal technology. My chief interests are in Twentieth Century History, Colonial America, Historiography and, most recently, the History of Science. I also write a satirical blog at The Diary of Humphrey Clarke. I hope my contributions to Quodlibeta capture something of the pleasure I get from trawling my dusty collection of second hand history books.
Jim S
I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Master's degrees in Philosophy and Theology. I'm a generalist, my areas of expertise being epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and science and religion. I did my philosophical studies in Continental Europe, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. I also write the Agent Intellect blog. In my mid-20s I decided to refute Christianity to set my conscience at ease. Two subjects I turned to in particular were science and philosophy. I accidentally argued myself into it.
6 comments:
I "learned" in ELEMENTARY school that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round. It's quite pathetic.
And even if it hadn't been known that the world was round in Columbus's time, there's no way his voyage COULD have shown it wasn't flat.
Hell, even the writers at Cracked know better then to believe that myth: http://www.cracked.com/article_16101_5-most-ridiculous-lies-you-were-taught-in-history-class.html
"Another sighting of the flat earth myth. In high school textbooks." and in University television commercials!
The flat earth myth was related as blunt fact in one of my textbooks for Research Class in my library science program. When I tried to correct it to the class, the prof insisted it was right. Unfortunately, this was in 1996, before the advent of the many internet resources I could have used. I had to let it go. I still feel like I let Library Science down a little in doing so.
-D*
All of this just blows me away. I was taught in grade school (in the freaking 70s) that everyone knew the earth was round at the time of Columbus, and claims to the contrary are false. I honestly thought nearly everyone knew this. I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon which starts with Columbus trying to convince Ferdinand that the earth is round ("The earth is-a round! Like-a my head!" BONK! "She's flat like-a your head."), and thinking they didn't know what they were talking about. I can understand how some people slipped through the cracks, but authors? Historians? Educators? I'm just blown away.
I teach at a Christian high school. After a several week long unit addressing these various "myths" about the relationship between science and religion (Conflict Thesis, Flat Earth myth, the Galileo Affair, etc). one of my more outspoken students raised her hand and said, "I've talked to my history teachers, my other teachers, my parents, my pastor, and everyone else I know, and everybody except you says that these are not myths. Why should I believe you when everyone else says otherwise?
My response: "Because I read it on Quodlibeta." Well, not exactly, but close. I said, "Because historians of science, who have actually studied this stuff, agree that these are myths. Is it more reasonable to believe a hundred people who have no evidence for what they are saying, or one person who has actually done research on this stuff?"
It's troubling as a teacher that our society promotes the idea that "consensus" is equivalent to "true."
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