Copyright 2022, InterAmerica, Inc.
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
