If you have watched as many of these as I have, the main person you'll see debunking the idea of Atlantis is Dr. Ken Feder. At first glance, Feder is am amiable oaf, on second glance, he is misinformed and agenda-driven.
Here is a sample of his arguments:
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The skeptic's guide to Atlantis, Part IIBy Tamar Simon, January 4, 2002
Dr. Ken Feder, Central Connecticut State University anthropology professor and premier Atlantis skeptic, likes to take issue with Atlantis theorists by chipping away at their "evidence" of Atlantis as a nation that once existed, and as the source of all civilization. (See The skeptic's guide to Atlantis, Part I) According to Feder, there are much simpler explanations for the emergence of such things as pyramids and pictorial language in ancient societies on either side of the Atlantic Ocean -- and for Plato's account of Atlantis itself.
Pyramid-building is in our power-hungry nature
Feder says that pyramids are simply another example of monumental architecture that occurs everywhere humans develop complex societies.
"Probably the earliest ones are utilitarian," he explains. "They need to build a complex irrigation system to feed a growing population, or a big wall around their settlement for protection. So they allow certain people to order the others around, in order to organize this labour."
But human nature doesn't allow the process to end there.
"What seems to happen is that once power is invested in the hands of an elite, those people are loathe to give it up when they are no longer needed to build the canals or walls," Feder says. "So the concentration of power becomes ritually sanctified: they justify their existence by saying we have helped you build these canals because the gods view us as being the right people to lead you and so we need bigger houses and big palaces or temples — or pyramids..."
Written language begins with pictures
As for the emergence of hieroglyphics in different parts of the world, Feder says you don't have to be a linguist to figure out that the first step in writing is to produce symbols that look like the concept you're trying to convey.
"The next step is, you don't have to take the time to draw 10 sheep if everyone agrees three lines that look like a sheep will represent sheep," he explains. "Those stylized images become even more stylized until you have a writing system. That's what happens everywhere but the individual pathways are different."
"Atlantis is a plot device!"
So why did Plato recount the story of Atlantis - and in such detail? Feder thinks the answer is obvious to anyone reads the Timaeus and Critais dialogues. Like any writer of fiction, Plato used realistic details that might have come from various places, including the near destruction of the Minoan civilization. But the purpose was only to lend verisimilitude and highlight his depiction of the true perfect society: ancient Athens.
"Socrates despairs that the conversation they had about a perfect society (which Plato wrote down as The Republic) is hypothetical, saying you don't get the essence of a lion from the painting of a lion," Feder points out. "So Socrates says to engage our perfect, hypothetical society in a suitable war to show how this perfection translates into reality."
According to Feder, Atlantis is merely a plot device, an incredibly sophisticated, wealthy, powerful nation that wants to dominate the entire known world — but is defeated in an enormous battle by a materially poor, technologically backward but spiritually pure society.
"[Atlantis is depicted] as a foil in such great detail that by the time they are defeated we are amazed," Feder explains. "We agree that Athens was the perfect society."
But if Atlantis is so obviously fictional, and there is no evidence to prove otherwise, why are we so attracted to the idea it did exist? Feder admits he is perplexed.
"I can't answer why people are enamoured of that idea," he sighs. "I find it frustrating because I think the stuff archeologists are finding in the ground is so incredibly fascinating that it doesn't need any window dressing. The idea that people on either side of the Atlantic could develop independently sophisticated civilizations is much more interesting than to say that a nation in the middle of the Atlantic gave them all these ideas!"
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http://www.exn.ca/hiddenworlds/atlantis/readstory.asp?storyID=2002010451