地平说是一种古老的世界观,地平说与地圆说相对,认为地表是平面,而不是一个巨大的球面。这种观点是绝大多数民族古代长期持有的观点,包括古希腊前的希腊文明,希腊化时代前的近东,笈多王朝前的古印度和17世纪前的中国[2][3]。
由于地圆说拥有大量科学证据[4][5],伪科学性的地平说阴谋论在现代地平说学会的支持下正在逐步兴起,并通过社交媒体影响那些未曾了解地圆说的人群[6][7]。
地圆说起源于公元前6世纪的毕达哥拉斯时期的希腊哲学,尽管大多数前苏格拉底主义者直到公元前5世纪都认为地球是平的。公元前4世纪初,柏拉图将地圆说写入著作,公元前330年,他的学生亚里士多德以经验为依据提供了地球球形的证据。从这时起,地圆说开始被世界所接受[8][9][10][11]。
历史
地平说的旧传播时代
西亚
在早期埃及[12]和美索不达米亚观念中,世界被描述成一个漂浮在海洋上的大盘子。前8世纪荷马时代的神话也有类似的描述:“阿诺斯,祂水一般的身躯环绕着大地的圆弧面,是所有生命和神明的起源。”[13]
古埃及的金字塔文和棺椁文也有类似的世界观。在他们的世界观中努恩 (海洋之神)环绕着“nbwt” (“干燥的大地”或者说“群岛”)[14][15][16]。
欧洲
直到古希腊时代,约前4世纪,许多古希腊学者开始利用科学(而不是基于宗教或者神话)讨论地球形状。后来,亚里士多德总结了3种方法来证明大地是球形的:
埃拉托斯特尼第一个提出公式计算了地球的半径,尽管由于当时的观测精度有限,其结果与今日之观测相差甚大。
中世纪时,罗马教会将基于地圆说所建立的地心说奉为正统。最后到地理大发现时代麦哲伦所率领的船队绕地球一周被认为直接证明了地圆说。
中国
中国古人长期讨论地圆或地平,最早的人们普遍认同天圆地方的早期盖天说[17]。这种理论与后来的浑天说有着长期的争论,不过受众依然很广[18][19][20]。
中世纪:地平说作为替代理论或混合理论
希腊:圆形的大地
公元前6世纪-5世纪,毕达哥拉斯和巴门尼德分别独立的提出了地球是圆的[21],这种理论很快就传遍了希腊地区。公元前330年,亚里士多德第一次使用基础物理学和观测证据在著作中估计了地球的周长[22]。更为精准的测量来自埃拉托斯特尼于公元前240年的测算[23]。公元2世纪,克劳狄乌斯·托勒密在地理学指南中将地球描述为一个球体,并且简单划分了纬度、经度和气候区。他的同类型著作《至大论》直到11世纪才传入阿拉伯世界。
卢克莱修反对毕达哥拉斯等人的观念,因为他认为地圆说描绘的宇宙意味着宇宙不存在中心,此外,他认为南半球人们倒立走路这一观念十分荒谬[24][25]。公元1世纪,老普林尼公开宣称所有人都应该相信地球是圆的[26],不过在这一时期地圆说依然无法解释许多问题:例如映体的性质以及如何将洋保持为弯曲形状,这一时期相关的争论仍在继续。
南亚
吠陀的经文以多种方式描绘了宇宙[27][28]。印度最早的宇宙学著作之一将地球描述为一堆扁平磁盘[29]。
在吠陀的经文中,将特尤斯(天空)和颇哩提毗(大地)与车轴上的车轮进行比较,得出了扁平模型[30]。亚瑟·安东尼·麦克唐在著作中认为,“地球是一个被海洋包围的圆盘的概念并没有直接的在《梵书》中出现,但是人们自然而然地认为就是这样的,并将其与轮子比较(10.89),并且在之后的《百道梵书》中详细描绘了这一点[31]。”
现代地平说
即便是到了现代,多个知名团体与个人仍表达了对地平的伪科学性信仰。
互联网时代为地平说带来的复兴
在信息时代,如YouTube、Twitter[32]、Facebook[33]这样的大型、知名的社交媒体很容易将正确信息传播扩散于大众之中,但同时,也很容易散播错误的信息并于此之上建立强有力的支撑,地平说猜想正是在这种环境之下得到了快速发展[6][7][34]。
YouTube因为传播错误信息与阴谋论而长期遭受着大量来自社会的指责与批评。2019年,Youtube声明将对包括地平说在内的阴谋论相关的视频降权[35][36]。
作为阴谋论出现
地平说协会的成员和其他地平说支持者认为NASA与其他的政府机构联合起来欺骗了大众[37]。他们的主要论据是NASA正在保护围绕地球的南极冰墙[37]。地平说支持者认为NASA篡改了他们的卫星影像,因为他们观察发现海洋的颜色因图像的不同而变化,并且各大洲似乎位于与实际不同的地方[38]。地平说支持者认为政府屏蔽了真相,只有少部分聪明人才能看出真相[39]。
另见
参考文献
- ↑ According to John Mansley Robinson, An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy, Houghton and Mifflin, 1968.
- ↑ Joseph Needham et al.: "Heavenly clockwork: the great astronomical clocks of medieval China", Antiquarian Horological Society, 2nd. ed., Vol. 1, 1986, ISBN 0-521-32276-6, p. 138.
- ↑ Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. p. 499.
- ↑ MacDougall, Robert. Strange enthusiasms: a brief history of American pseudoscience. 哥伦比亚大学. [2016-07-05].
- ↑ 邹松霖. 如何证明地球是圆的?. 中国经济周刊. 2019, (13).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ambrose, Graham. These Coloradans say Earth is flat. And gravity's a hoax. Now, they're being persecuted.. The Denver Post. 2017-07-07 [2017-08-19].
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dure, Beau. Flat-Earthers are back: 'It's almost like the beginning of a new religion'. The Guardian. 2016-01-20 [2017-08-19].
- ↑ Continuation of Greek concept into Roman and medieval Christian thought: Reinhard Krüger: Materialien und Dokumente zur mittelalterlichen Erdkugeltheorie von der Spätantike bis zur Kolumbusfahrt (1492)
- ↑ Direct adoption of the Greek concept by Islam: Ragep, F. Jamil: "Astronomy", in: Krämer, Gudrun (ed.) et al.: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Brill 2010, without page numbers
- ↑ Direct adoption by India: D. Pingree: "History of Mathematical Astronomy in India", Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 15 (1978), pp. 533–633 (554ff.); Glick, Thomas F., Livesey, Steven John, Wallis, Faith (eds.): "Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia", Routledge, New York 2005, ISBN 0-415-96930-1, p. 463
- ↑ Adoption by China via European science: Jean-Claude Martzloff, "Space and Time in Chinese Texts of Astronomy and of Mathematical Astronomy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries" , Chinese Science 11 (1993–94): 66–92 (69) and Christopher Cullen, "A Chinese Eratosthenes of the Flat Earth: A Study of a Fragment of Cosmology in Huai Nan tzu 淮 南 子", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1 (1976), pp. 106–27 (107)
- ↑ H. and H. A. Frankfort, J. A. Wilson, and T. Jacobsen, Before Philosophy (Baltimore: Penguin, 1949) 54.
- ↑ Gottlieb, Anthony. The Dream of Reason. Penguin. 2000: 6. ISBN 978-0-393-04951-0.
- ↑ Pyramid Texts, Utterance 366, 629a–29c: "Behold, thou art great and round like the Great Round; Behold, thou are bent around, and art round like the Circle which encircles the nbwt; Behold, thou art round and great like the Great Circle which sets."(Faulkner 1969, 120)
- ↑ Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Pritchard, 1969, p. 374.
- ↑ Coffin Texts, Spell 714.
- ↑ Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. p. 498.
- ↑ Martzloff, Jean-Claude. Space and Time in Chinese Texts of Astronomy and of Mathematical Astronomy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Chinese Science. 1993–94, (11): 66–92 [p. 69] [2020-05-08]. JSTOR 43290474.
- ↑ Cullen, Christopher. Joseph Needham on Chinese Astronomy. Past & Present. 1980, 87 (1): 39–53 [pp. 42, 49]. JSTOR 650565. doi:10.1093/past/87.1.39.
- ↑ Cullen, Christopher. A Chinese Eratosthenes of the Flat Earth: A Study of a Fragment of Cosmology in Huai Nan tzu 淮 南 子. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 1976, 39 (1): 106–27 [pp. 107–09]. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00052137.
- ↑ Dreyer, John Louis Emil. A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler. New York, NY: Dover Publications. 1953: 20, 37–38 [1905]. ISBN 978-0-486-60079-6.
- ↑ On the Heavens, Book ii Chapter 14. Lloyd, G.E.R. Aristotle: The Growth and Structure of His Thought. Cambridge Univ. Press. 1968: 162–64. ISBN 978-0-521-07049-2.
- ↑ Van Helden, Albert. Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley. University of Chicago Press. 1985: 4–5. ISBN 978-0-226-84882-2.
- ↑ Sedley, David N. Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2003: 78–82. ISBN 978-0-521-54214-2.
- ↑ Lucretius, De rerum natura, 1.1052–82.
- ↑ Natural History, 2.64
- ↑ Tull, Herman Wayne. The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual. State University of New York Press. 1989: 47–49. ISBN 978-0-7914-0094-4.
The Vedic texts contain several depictions of the shape of the cosmos. The Rigveda alone contains two basic images of the cosmos: a bipartite cosmos, consisting of the two spheres of heavens and Earth, and a tripartite cosmos consisting of the three spheres of heavens and Earth (...)
- ↑ Sarma, K. V. Selin, Helaine , 编. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Westen Cultures. Springer Science & Business Media. 2013: 114–15. ISBN 978-94-017-1416-7.
- ↑ Plofker 2009,第52页.
- ↑ Gombrich, R. F. Blacker, Carmen; Loewe, Michael , 编. Ancient Cosmologies. George Allen & Unwin. 1975: 110–39. ISBN 9780041000382.
- ↑ A. A. Macdonell. Vedic Mythology. Motilal Banarsidass. 1986: 9. ISBN 978-81-208-1113-3.
- ↑ Heigl, Alex. The Short List of Famous People Who Think the Earth Is Flat (Yes, Really). People. 2017-02-20 [2020-05-08].
- ↑ Abbott, Erica. Mark Zuckerberg Banning All Flat Earth Groups from Facebook Is A Hoax. Business2community.com. Business2community. [2017-08-19].
- ↑ Herreria, Carla. Neil deGrasse Tyson Cites Celebrity Flat-Earthers To Make A Point About Politics. Huffington Post. 2017-04-22 [2017-08-19].
- ↑ YouTube says it will crack down on recommending conspiracy videos. CNN. [2019-11-17].
- ↑ CNN, Rob Picheta. The flat earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?. CNN. [2019-11-17].
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Wolchover, Natalie; May 30, Live Science Staff |; ET, 2017 10:24am. Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious?. Live Science. [2019-01-17].
- ↑ Moshakis, Alex. Is the Earth flat? Meet the people questioning science. The Observer. 2018-05-27 [2019-01-17]. ISSN 0029-7712 (英国英语).
- ↑ Burdick, Alan. Looking for Life on a Flat Earth. 2018-05-30 [2019-01-17]. ISSN 0028-792X (英语).
扩展阅读
- Fraser, Raymond (2007). When The Earth Was Flat: Remembering Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, the Flat Earth Society, the King James monarchy hoax, the Montreal Story Tellers and other curious matters. Black Moss Press, ISBN 978-0-88753-439-3
外部链接
- Robbins, Stuart. Episode 33: Flat Earth. Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast. 2012-05-01 [2020-05-08].
- Robbins, Stuart. Episode 145: Modern Flat Earth Theory, Part 1. Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast. 2016-09-05 [2020-05-08].
- Robbins, Stuart. Episode 149: Modern Flat Earth Thought, Part 2. Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast. 2016-10-04 [2020-05-08].
- Power, Myles; James, James. Episode 146: The Lies of the Sun. League of Nerds (YouTube). 2016-10-31. – Review of a pro-Flat Earth documentary.
- The Myth of the Flat Earth
- The Myth of the Flat Universe
- You say the earth is round? Prove it (from The Straight Dope)
- Flat Earth Fallacy
- Zetetic Astronomy, or Earth Not a Globe by Parallax (Samuel Birley Rowbotham (1816–1884)) at sacred-texts.com
- Flat Earth idea of the suns trajectory
- Flat Earth Theory of the Moon & Sun's paths around the world