Applying IBE Criteria of Adequacy
Directions: Apply the IBE criteria to the theories explaining the phenomenon below. If it fulfills the
criteria write a check. If fails on the criterion, write an x.
UFOs
Phenomenon: People report seeing lights in the night sky that appear to them to look like UFOs.
Theory 1: UFOs caused the lights to appear in the night sky.
Theory 2: Constructive perception—a psychological phenomenon that leads people to perceive what
they expect to perceive—caused the people to (mis)perceive UFOs in the night sky.
Any other theories?
Theory 1
Theory 2
Theory 3
Theory 4
Explanatoriness
Depth
Power/Scope
Simplicity
Conservativeness
Great Pyramid of Giza
Phenomenon: The Great Pyramid of Giza was built c. 2750 B.C.E. by quarrying 8,000 tons of granite
(which were transported from more than 560 miles away) and 500,000 tons of mortar. It was then
encased by 5.5 million tons of white limestone, transported in blocks that were 25-80 tons from a site
6.2 miles away.
1
Theory 1: Alien lifeforms with superior technology came to earth and built the pyramids.
Theory 2. The Egyptians themselves built the pyramids through their own ingenuity and technology. The
limestones were transported by boat on the Nile, according to the Diary of Merer (discovered in 2013).
Theory 3: Europeans, specifically, the Greeks, built the pyramids, because the Egyptians neither had the
ingenuity nor technology to build them, but the Greeks conceivably could have.
Any other theories?
Theory 1
Theory 2
Theory 3
Theory 4
Explanatoriness
Depth
Power/Scope
Simplicity
Conservativeness
1 From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza
