Gold of the Gods Perelman Analysis

The Gold of the Gods by Erich von Daniken

Fallacy and Perelman Analysis

Chapter 1: THE GOLD OF THE GODS

• In the first sentence alone, there is the Appeal to Misleading Authority: “To me this is the most incredible, fantastic story of the century. It could easily have come straight from the realms of Science Fiction if I had not seen and photographed the incredible truth in person. What I saw was not the product of dreams or imagination, it was real and tangible” (pg. 1). Here it can be said that since von Daniken saw the things he did and photographed them, that they are somehow now cold, hard fact and that every theory he presents concerning his findings must be true as well. Also, he claims that because he alone saw these things, that they must be true, even though it is reasonable to assume that none   of his readers have visited these tunnels. In relating the quote to Perelman, it could be categorized as Presumptions: the normal, since the author is basing the affirmation of his findings off of his experience. Under Premise Modifiers it would most likely be Presence: Time, as it seems like von Daniken needs to get his story out and let the whole world know. Under Quasi-logical arguments, the best example would have to be Comparison: Superlative, as he claims that his findings would be seen as “the most incredible, fantastic story of the century”.
• The last set of quotes that I want to mention in this chapter are as follows: “Is it [our own age] prepared to decipher an age-old work even if it means bringing to light truths that might turn our near and dubious world picture completely upside down?... the history of his origin was entirely different from the one which is instilled into him in the form of a pious fairy story” (pg. 10). This to me seems like a bit of Wishful Thinking. There are many people that discover ancient artifacts such as the ones von Daniken found that want to believe there are life-changing histories and stories behind collections of these relics that ·       will somehow undo and completely tear apart all of modern history because of one statue. In reference to Perelman, the most likely category for this particular quote would have to be Succession: Pragmatic. In this way, von Daniken is claiming that the act of accepting the theories that he is presenting would “turn our near and dubious world picture completely upside down”. Therefore, he is evaluating the act of accepting his theories by presenting the consequences of doing so.
• The rest of the first chapter was surprisingly boring and a bit of a let-down considering the name of the chapter. It is basically an inventory of the many things (made of gold) that von Daniken found during his trip into the tunnels and his many theories concerning the Incas and how they hid away all of these treasures from the Conquistadores.  

Chapter 2: THE WAR OF THE GODS

•          The second chapter of this book discusses the so called “war of the gods” in which an intergalactic battle took place amongst the many gods that von Daniken believes exists, and how the losers of this said “war” retreated to Earth. He goes on to support this argument by claiming that some of the artifacts that he found in the tunnels look “very similar” to items such as astronaut suits, satellites, and even potential “replicas” that could only be the spherical spaceships used to reach the Earth. Now I will present the most notable quotes from this chapter as follows:
  ·       One of von Daniken’s main claims in this chapter is at one point in time, namely millions of years ago, there were multiple gods in the universe. This can be seen here: “Yet the Old Testament mentions not just one god, but several gods”. He bases this massive claim off of the unconvincing evidence of a few verses in the Bible. Specifically, Genesis 1:26 “…let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the air…” (pg. 59-60). This is most definitely a Hasty Generalization and perhaps even a little bit of Wishful Thinking. As the Bible is such an ancient document that has been edited and translated so many different times, it itself is not a very reliable source for the type of claim that von Daniken made. The best category for the first quote, using Perelman, would have to be Example: Single. Even though this may not seem to be the best fit, it does appear that von Daniken is attempting to use the verses in the Bible that he mentions as just one example to support his entire argument.
  ·       von Daniken goes on to explain his theory of how the so-called “War of the Gods” took place, and more specifically how the extra-terrestrial beings that retreated to Earth got there. One can see evidence of more Appeal to Misleading Authority as well as potential Hasty Generalization throughout the rest of this chapter. One of the “misleading authorities” is Lord Kelvin of Largs, a professor at Glasgow University and a well-known physicist during the 1800’s. To quote von Daniken in regards to Lord Kelvin: “Kelvin was convinced that these unicellular vegetable cells – asexual germ cells…together with meteors or meteoric dust…developed under the life-giving power of light so that finally higher organisms could emerge from them…” (pg. 65). The rest of the chapter goes on to explain theories that von Daniken borrowed from well-known scientists including the possible number of celestial bodies that may exist in the universe, and how there is always the potential that at least some of them might contain some form of sentient life. This also represents the idea of an Appeal to Ignorance, as there is no concrete proof of any of the claims that von Daniken makes in the second chapter of his book, especially concerning the potential existence of life on other planets. It is all based on circumstance and hope, as we humans do not have the advanced technology to investigate or even to travel to any of the supposed Earth-like planets that exist throughout the universe. To relate this argument to Perelman, it may seem like a bit of a stretch, but Illustration: (for) Clarity appears to be the best fit. The “rule” or “reality” that von Daniken wants to paint a clearer picture of is the idea of the so-called “Unicellular vegetable cells” that traveled to earth and eventually evolved into modern-day human beings.