Philosophical bullsh*t and UFOs

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The New York Review of Books for 7/21/22 has an extensive review of two books about philosophy [Page 45 ff.].
 
I’m not going to review those reviews but I am going to make the point, again, that philosophy cannot help us to discover the source and meaning of the UFO phenomenon.
 
My buddy at Anomalist, Bill Murphy, insists on touting the work of UFO newbie Michael Cifone – see Bill’s listing of 7/12:
 
“Michael Cifone presents a comprehensive look at the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies' early June conference. Michael first addresses what he believes is the SCU's unique value while bemoaning the underrepresentation of the philosophical approach to the phenomena.”
 
Cifone, like other academics (Bryan Sentes or David Halperin, two brilliant guys), thinks that mucking around with philosophical meanderings will bring enlightenment to the UFO enigma. It won’t.
 
UFOs lie outside, it seems to me, the outriggings of reality as we know it. Philosophy is a mental manifestation for human dealings with life and the meanings of life.

But even then, great philosophers like Ludwig Wittgenstein think philosophy, itself, is useless for almost everything humans deal with.
 
From the NYRB review is this:
 
“[Wittgenstein] maintained … that all [!] existential propositions are meaningless” [Page 45]
 
This is not a lone view. The failures of philosophy have been cited in a number of books, several noted here.
 
So, why is Anomalist lauding such efforts, to sell books?
 
Nope. Bill Murphy and others think academics are more qualified to deal with UFOs than physicists or engineers or cosmologists or paranormal experts, thus guys like Cifone get copy, but shouldn’t.
 
Cipfone is grasping at straws, but why? I don’t know. He’s a question mark in my circles, where UFO enthusiasts struggle to understand the UFO phenomenon, and have for many years. 

But along comes an academic newbie with the shroud of philosophical expertise and some fall all over themselves to move aside to abet the newbie’s nonsense.
 
This is a side-track that we should avoid. Cifone and his UAP construct means little to nothing.
 
To further waste time on it is more than irksome,. It’s intellectual madness.

RR