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THE BURNING OF TROY

By Alfred de Grazia

Part Five: Communicating a Scientific Model

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT


SYLLABI FOR QUANTAVOLUTION



I


G 53.2112 Social Invention PRIMEVAL ECOLOGY, INSTITUTIONS, AND HUMAN NATURE

Professor Alfred de Grazia, New York University
Spring Semester, 1976

Prerequistites: A Bachelor's Degree.
(For undergraduates permission of the instructor or advisor is required. Call 598-3277.)

The course is organized around a central concept, "Revolutionary Primevalogy," by which is meant that drastic natural changes (disasters) have occurred in 14,000 years (roughly the Holocene period) and produced a self-developing homo sapiens whose very mind and all its works have been causally and environmentally conditioned by those changes.

Theories and evidence are drawn from various fields of the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. Specifically, political institutions and behavior are treated as relatives and adjuncts of human nature, behavior, and culture in general. "Enlightenment" over the ages has been almost entirely a burial and masking of symptoms; the basic problems of primeval mankind still rest with us and radical alternatives need to be searched out if those are not to determine the human future.

Primevalogy is a most difficult and complex field, both because of the clash of fundamental theories (religious-scientific, evolutionary-revolutionary), and because of the scarcity and ambiguity of data. Indeed the field hovers on the edge of being a non-field or anti-field. Sometimes one wonders: "If the events it deals with are provable, then the field cannot exist." This paradox is analogous to certain new problems of theoretical physics, where phenomena are so antitemporal or micro-temporal or spatially contradictory that to observe them as occurring seems to be a proof that they cannot occur.

The approach, nevertheless, is conventionally scientific, even though it opposes conventional science and orthodoxy. We are not dealing with ghosts or creatures from outer space. Nor do we prove the existence of God. We are simply doing the best that we can with whatever the pragmatic and operational modern scientific tools and works afford us.

Each session will be divided into two parts. From 6: 00 to 6: 50 p. m., the lecture will present a straightforward statement of the theory of revolutionary primevalogy. Following a brief intermission, the instructor will take up and assess objections to the theory as presented; criticism and discussion by class members will follow and will terminate the session at 7: 50 p. m. Since time may not permit all to participate who wish to do so, written comments and questions for written or oral reply may be submitted.

Towards the conclusion of the first session, members of the class will be asked to write a note to the instructor on their background and preferences for areas into which they might wish to delve when writing a paper for the course. Undergraduates may contribute a paper as well. The instructor will then, later on, make suggestions concerning possible topics. The final examination will consist of brief essays upon several of a list of questions that will be distributed well in advance.

Calendar of Lectures (Wednesdays, 6: 00 to 8: 00 P. M.)



INTRODUCTION

1.

February 4 REVOLUTIONARY PRIMEVALOGY:
The science of first ages as products of abrupt, large-scale, intense events; evolution and uniformitarianism, catastrophism; the intimate relation of nature to humanity.


2.

February 11 AGES OF CHAOS AND CREATION:
The timetable of revolutionary changes; great world cycles; rise and fall of civilizations.


SECTION I

3.

February 18 HUMAN TIME AND REAL TIME:
Concepts and measures; how scientists defeated the theologians and created an old Earth; radiochronology; traditional time; astronomical bench-marks.

4.

February 25 THE SUPER-FORCES OF NATURE IN THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE:
Nineteen expressions of super-energy and their effects upon ecology and humankind.

5.

March 3 THE DISRUPTION AND SETTLING OF HEAVEN:
Observations of primeval people; planetary, cometary and other cosmic phenomena; Velikovky's synthesis; the heavenly waters.

6.

March 10 EFFECTS OF GEOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS UPON THE BIOSPHERE:
Ice ages; cleavages of the globe; mountains, gorges, rifts; igneous patterns; adaptation and extinction of species.


SECTION II

7.

March 17 WHEN AND HOW WAS HUMANKIND "CREATED":
From hominid to homo sapiens; creation legends; the schizoid gestalt and the triple control problem; racial types and succession.

8.

March 31 MECHANISMS & FUNCTIONS OF MEMORY AND FORGETTING;
Great fears; the amnesia of holocausts; culture-creation through obsessive-compulsive behavior.

9.

April 7 BIRTH, STRUGGLES, AND DEATH OF THE GODS:
Gods and heroes; fatal flaws; divine ambivalence to man and man to gods; the greatest cover-up; Homeric plots; götterdämmerung.

10.

April 14 COMMUNICATION BY SIGNS, SYMBOLS, AND LANGUAGE:
Animal communication: earliest symbols; universal language; the Tower of Babel.

11.

April 21. PRIMEVAL ORIGINS OF THE ARTS AND LITERATURE:
Crafts, myths; liturgy art; dance; poetry.

12.

April 28 PRAGMATICS AND INSTITUTIONS OF CONTROL:
Group behavior; religio-political institutions and sacred-secular power forms; war; sexuality; economies; instrumental rationalism.


CONCLUSION

13.

May 5 WHAT THE PRIMEVAL FORETELLS OF THE FUTURE:
Centrality of control problems; interconnectedness of knowledge; self-destructiveness; the "Jupiter effect" and other possibilities.

14.

May 12 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF THE LECTURES :
Synopsis of the theory; problems of validations; practical uses; the politics of science; a new science.



II

THE CATASTROPHIST TRADITION IN THE HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES:

ITS PERSISTENCE, RECENT DEVELOPMENT,
AND EFFECTS UPON THOUGHT AND BEHAVIOR

(A proposed seminar of 1982) Professor Alfred de Grazia New York University



I.
INTRODUCTION

1.

Explanation of the goals and work of the Seminar. Writing the Research Paper.

2.

The Tradition that General Catastrophes have occurred on Earth defined. Terms such as revolutionism, macroevolution, punctuated equilibria, quantum evolution, quantavolution, natural saltations, cyclism, catastrophe (in topological mathematics). The concept of a sudden, intensive large-scale change in the process of natural and human history.

3.

Examples of the infiltration (amounting often to dominance) of catastrophic ideas and theories into most fields of knowledge.



II.
THE PLACE OF CATASTROPHISM
IN THE ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

4.

Origins.

A. The ascribed and actual origins of all major religions in catastrophes: Cases: Mosaism, Mazdaism, Greco -- Romanism, Mesoamericanism, Hinduism.

B. The number and kinds of catastrophes claimed by religion.

5.

Practices.

A. The conversion of legendary experiences into forms of religious practices.

B. Cross-cultural identification of the principal deities and their traits.

6.

Ideology

A. The functions of catastrophic ideas in religion.

B. The sublimation of catastrophic religion in philosophy, ancient and modern.

C. Attempts to free religion and philosophy from catastrophe.



III.
THE SEARCH FOR CATASTROPHES
IN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

7.

Archaeology: Levels of natural destruction and ancient excavations.

8.

Anthropology: the human species, a prolonged (or brief?) development.



IV.
THE EXTINCTION AND GENESIS OF SPECIES

9.

The Pleistocene and earlier exterminations.

10.

Origin of species in catastrophes.



V.
THE TREATMENT OF COSMIC DISORDER IN ASTRONOMY

11.

"Immutability of the Spheres," Plato, Whiston, Laplace, Ovenden, Bass et al.

12.

"The Explosive Universe," Hoerbiger, Baker, Velikovsky, Warwick, et al.



VI.
THE STRUGGLE TO DISCRIMINATE CHANGE AGENTS
IN THE EARTH SCIENCES

13.

The Change of Paradigm

A. Dominance of catastrophism in early geology.

B. The uniformitarian reconstruction: gradualism and terrestrial isolationism.

14.

Ostracism and reductionism: cranks, denial, and anomalies.

15.

Recent scientific literature (1970 to 1982) on extraterrestrial influences upon meteorology and geology. VII. THE CRUX OF CHRONOLOGY: 10 4 , 10 6 , 2 X 10 7 , 10 9 or 5 x 10 9 YEARS? MODES AND TECHNIQUES OF TIME-DETERMINATION.

16.

Authoritative

17.

Astrophysical

18.

Biostratigraphical

19.

Radiochronometric



VIII. CATASTROPHISM IN LITERATURE AND POLITICS

20.

The Pentateuch, the Rig-Veda and early western epics (Homer, the Edda)

21.

Shakespeare

22.

Modern Forms

A. Science fiction

B. The mass media

23.

The Holocausts: the tendency of ancient collective traumatic experiences to repeat themselves in politics and war.



IX. THE HUMAN MIND TODAY: CONFRONTING AND COPING WITH CATASTROPHIC IDEAS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

24.
The reception system of science

A. Problems of natural science models clashing with unconforming natural history

B. Evolution of Quantavolution: issues in the biological sciences

25.
Developing forms of thought

A. Catastrophism in contemporary religion

B. Psychological therapy and the catastrophic mentality

C. Cosmic and political catastrophism: the meaning of nuclear war



SUGGESTED READINGS, ON RESERVE

(Keyed to outline and fully cited in the master bibliography provided each member of the Seminar)

I.

Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan et al., Scientists Confront Velikovsky; M. Truzzi, el., The Zetetic Scholar (excerpts); A. de Grazia, "The Coming Cosmic Debate in the Sciences and Humanities, " (offprint).

II.

Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return; D. Talbott, Saturn; A. Grazia, "Moses and the Management of Exodus;" J. Ziegler, YHWH; Plato, "Critias" and "Timaeus (selections);" A. Isenberg, "Devi and Venus;"

III

Claude Schaeffer, Stratigraphie Comparée.. (translated portions); A. de Grazia, The Rise of Homo Schizo (excerpted chapters);

IV

Luis Alvarez et al.. (Excerpts on iridium concentrations at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, from Science magazine); Otto Schindewolf, "Neocatastrophism? in 2 Catas. Geol.

V

L. C. Stecchini, "The Inconstant Heavens" and "Astronomical Theory and Historical Data;" Thomas Taylor, "Coincidence between the Bolts of the Planet Jupiter and the Fabulous Bonds of Jupiter the Demiurgus," Classical J. (1819); R. W. Bass, "Proofs of the Stability of the Solar System," in 4 Pensée; H. B. Baker, "The Earth Participates in the Evolution of the Solar System," Detr. Acad. Nat. Sci. (reprint).

VI.

Cuvier, Revolutions of the Globe; Derek Ager, The Nature of the Statigraphical Record; D. Stove. "The Scientific Mafia"; reprint, J. A. Eddy, "The Case of the Missing Sunspots," 236 Sci. American.

VII

R. Juergens, "Radiohalos and Earth History," III Kronos (1977); "Geogullibility and Magnetic Reversals," III Kronos (1978); A. de Grazia, Chaos and Creation, ch. III.

VIII.

D. Patten, The Biblical Flood; Peter James, "Aphrodite: the Moon or Venus?" I SISR (1976); I. Wolfe, "The Catastrophic Substructure of Shakespeare's 'Anthony and Cleopatra'", I Kronos 3 (1975-6)

IX.

Stephen Gould, "Darwinism and the Expansion of Evolutionary Theory," 216 Science (1982); McLean vs. Arkansas (1982, Documents and Court Opinion); Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; Sigmund Freud on the repetition of traumatic experiences (Selected Papers); Manifesto of Nobel prize winners on nuclear warfare and humanity (1981).



SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

All works cited as the specific background of the seminar meetings will be available on Reserve. In some instances, purchase of the materials is possible: in other instances, duplication of the materials has to be arranged. Although it is expected that the instructor will be able to convey his own research in the course of the meetings, copies of his relevant works will also be available on loan; these include in published or Xeroxed form: Chaos and Creation: Quantavolution in the Natural and Human Science; Homo Schizo (in two volumes): The Origins of Man and Culture and Human Nature and Behavior; Solaria Binaria (with Earl R. Milton); Moses and the Management of Exodus; The Disastrous Love Affair of Moon and Mars (in Homer); The Lately Tortured Earth (Quantavolution in the Earth Sciences). In addition, members of the seminar will be Provided with a supplemental Bibliography of several hundred related items. They can expect to read at least 350 pages a week, apart from the reading they require for their research paper.



RESEARCH PAPER

Each participant will be expected to write a brief, compact research paper along the lines of an article in Nature magazine. Examples of acceptable topics might be: "The Present State of Theory on the Origins of Tektites," "Astronomical Orientation of Towns, Temples, and Carvings in Prehistoric Meso-America;" "Origins and Decay of the Earth's Magnetic Field;" "A Possible Reconciliation of Virgil's Trojan Legend and the Historical Founding of Rome;" "Electrical Phenomena Depicted in the Rig Veda;" "Was Australopithecus Human?" "Popular Opinion Respecting the Historicity of Catastrophes;" "Sources of Catastrophic Expectations in Certain Human Subjects;" "Statistical Frequency of Catastrophe-relevant Literature, 1900- 1982, in Nature and Science magazines;" "Creation-time according to various Religions, Sects, and Writers;" "The Confirmation (Disproof) of Schaeffer's Theory of General Periodic Bronze Age Disasters in the Near East in the Light of Excavations since 1945;" "The categorizing of Donnelly's Ragnarok in the scientific and Popular Press, 1883 to 1890 in America and England;" "Current Astronomical opinion on the Fixity of Planetary Motions;" "Assessments of the Validity of Potassium40 - Argon40 Radiochronometry;" "Migrating Eels and Continental Drift;" etc. Each Participant will present a copy of his paper to all other members of the seminar. Depending upon their quality, and granted the need for this approach felt in various quarters, the papers may be published in a suitable format.






































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