Thursday, July 07, 2011

Funny place to find Uncle Gilbert


A recent donation to the library of congress puts a new spin on an issue considered long settled - a Flat Earth Map. In 1893 Orlando Ferguson created a map of the Earth that, he claimed, reconciled biblical (note the angel reference from Revelation 7:1) and scientific knowledge.

The map depicts the Earth as a giant square slab with a dimpled upper surface - an inverse torpoid for you math majors out there.


This is great news for the Flat Earth Society cause no one really liked their map.

The Society aims are simple:

1. To restore humanity’s faith in Common Sense. Seeing is believing. For hundreds of years humankind has been blinded by metaphysics, brainwashed by popular fallacies and bullied into denying the evidence of one’s own sense. The Flat Earth Society stands for a renewed faith in the basic truth of sense experience.

2. To combat the fallacious deification of the sphere which, ever since the sly deception of Pythagoras, has warped western thought.

3. To spearhead humankind’s escape from his/her metaphysical and geometrical prison by asserting that science, like philosophy and religion, is ultimately metaphorical and therefore that reality as we verbalize it isultimately metaphorical, and therefore that realtiy as we verbalize it is essentially mystical and poetical.

George Bernard Shaw was a member of the group (really?) they also infer that G. K. Chesterton was a member by quoting him on their membership application:

G.K. Chesterton: “A man should always question the strongest convictions of his age, for those convictions are invariably too strong.”

If it is good enough for uncle Gilbert you can count be in. I would love to see Dale Ahlquist's response to this. I think he should devote a show on it.

Oh yea, people don't fall off the Earth because of Intelligent Pulling, not gravity.

5 comments:

K T Cat said...

The map on top looks more like a roulette wheel than a flat Earth map.

:-)

Alan Capasso said...

which would make sense if you believe life's a crap shoot anyway.

K T Cat said...

The Society aims are simple:

1. To restore humanity’s faith in Common Sense. Seeing is believing.


Hmmm. Not sure why metaphysics gets a bad rap from these guys. Seeing is believing is something any Thomist could support.

Unknown said...

Neither the Bible nor the Church taught a Flat Earth. This was a claim promoted in the 1800's to discredit Christians.

Weston Renoud said...

It should be noted that the map and the specific society you cite are of different origins and convictions. You described the Canadian Flat Earthers.