1952 08 14 Journal of Philosophy - Vol 49 No 17 - B A G Fuller

Magazine Overview

Title: The Journal of Philosophy
Issue Date: August 14, 1952
Volume: XLIX, No. 17
Article Title: Flying Saucers
Author: B. A. G. Fuller

This issue of The Journal of Philosophy features an article by B. A. G. Fuller titled "Flying Saucers." The piece uses the phenomenon of reported flying saucer sightings as a springboard for a deep philosophical inquiry into humanity's place in the universe and the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life.

The Philosophical Implications of Flying Saucers

Fuller begins by suggesting that the recent sightings of "Flying Saucers" should prompt philosophers to reconsider humanity's belief in its central, privileged, and unique metaphysical status. He notes that while scientific evidence points to the probability of life elsewhere, this challenges the prevailing anthropocentric views in much of Western philosophy, theology, and ethics.

Scientific Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life

The article references scientific opinions on the likelihood of life beyond Earth. Spencer Jones, the Astronomer Royal, suggests that life might exist on one in a thousand or even one in a million solar systems. Cambridge astro-physicist Hoyle offers a more expansive estimate, suggesting at least a hundred thousand inhabited planets in our galaxy alone. The possibility of life on Mars, a "dying planet," is also discussed, with speculation about surviving vegetation and potentially higher animal and intelligent forms, or even a superior species that has taken refuge in the planet's interior.

Speculating on Alien Life Forms and Consciousness

Fuller explores various imaginative and scientific speculations about the nature of extraterrestrial beings. He mentions H. G. Wells' fictional Martians and Selenites, as well as Haldane's scientific considerations of what intelligent life might be like for creatures such as dogs, bees, and molluscs. The author contemplates the possibility of non-biological, self-conscious computing machines and the philosophical challenges of defining "life" and "consciousness" in such contexts. He also considers the implications of different physical environments on other planets, such as silicon-based life at higher temperatures, and the potential for vastly different sensory experiences and cognitive processes, such as those of a black-widow spider or beings perceiving in a fourth spatial dimension.

The Interplanetary Philosophical Congress

To further explore these ideas, Fuller proposes a hypothetical "Interplanetary Philosophical Congress." This congress would bring together eminent scientists, theologians, and philosophers from various "saucerian" life forms. The author imagines the diversity of these beings, their potential differences in life-expectancy, reproduction, communication, and sensory perception. He anticipates that such a congress would highlight the vast differences in their "sensible worlds," conditioned by their unique biological and perceptual apparatus.

Diversity of Values, Morality, and Religion

Fuller delves into the potential diversity of values, morality, and religion among these hypothetical alien species. He considers that while some might be self-determined to good, others might transcend moral orders. The concept of a personal God is examined in relation to social organization, with a discussion of polytheistic versus monotheistic theism. The article suggests that emotional and behavioral responses to pleasure, pain, good, and evil, as well as social, political, and economic systems, could vary dramatically based on species-specific biology and reproduction methods. Aesthetic sensitivity and religious experience are also posited as universal, though expressed in diverse forms.

Challenges and Reconciliation

The author anticipates that an Interplanetary Congress would reveal significant disagreements and antipathies, stemming from differences in physical appearance, preferences, and ways of life. However, he suggests that comparative biologists, physiologists, and psychologists might help overcome some of these prejudices. The core challenge would be reconciling divergent moral, religious, social, and political systems, each considered optimal by its own species. Fuller proposes that a "common sense" approach, administered by ethnologists and sociologists, would reveal that there is no objective "better" or "worse" among these diverse ways of life, as each species pursues the good proper to its kind.

Ethics and the Nature of Reality

The article touches upon the nature of ethics, suggesting it is an inexact science. It explores the concept of values, considering whether they are absolute or relative to saucerian evaluations. The potential for truth, beauty, and goodness to be perceived differently, or even in antagonism, is discussed. The author also contemplates the implications of a "tychistic" (chance-infected) reality versus a deterministic one for the development of philosophy and science.

Eschatology and Survival

Fuller also considers the implications of different forms of propagation and existence for eschatology, particularly for species that divide rather than die. The concept of immortality, survival after death, and reincarnation are examined from these varied perspectives. The article notes that some species might even desire non-survival after a full life span.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The article consistently challenges anthropocentrism, advocating for a broader philosophical perspective that embraces the possibility of diverse forms of intelligent life in the universe. Fuller expresses a personal wish for beings "far differently constituted physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually from ourselves," finding human concepts "stuffy." The editorial stance appears to be one of open-minded inquiry, encouraging philosophers to consider phenomena like flying saucers not merely as curiosities but as prompts for fundamental re-evaluation of human assumptions about intelligence, consciousness, and reality. The author advocates for a philosophical approach that is not "parochial" but engages with the potential "what may be taking place beyond the city limits."

This document consists of pages 554-559 from "THE JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY," featuring an article titled "FLYING SAUCERS" by B. A. G. FULLER from the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. The content delves into complex philosophical and theological considerations arising from the hypothetical concept of interplanetary travel and beings.

Interplanetary Theology and the Nature of God

The article begins by exploring the implications of an "interplanetary personal theist" perspective. It posits that if beings from other planets ("Saucerians") have their own planetary gods, confronting differently constituted gods backed by authoritative vouchers would create an "awkward situation." These gods, being tribal, would be equally fitted or unfitted to hold a cosmic role. However, the text suggests that these "planetary variables" might reveal a "personal constant" endowed with divine attributes, allowing for the construction of an "interplanetary personal theology." This theology, however, would need to be abstract enough to be universally applicable but might struggle to function pragmatically as a single, experienced personal God commanding devotion across diverse species.

Challenges in Religious Art and Representation

The difficulty of representing such an abstract, interplanetary God is highlighted through the lens of religious art. While human religious art might convert the "dull and distasteful" into aesthetic pleasure and inspiration, an interplanetary deity's representation would need to combine fundamental differences in structure and appeal to various dominant senses without accenting any single species' features. The result would likely be an image that is either "surrealistic and complex" or "composite and unspecific," failing to express or reinforce the religious experience of any particular planet, despite potential aesthetic merit.

The article notes that this experience would likely involve communion with a being "akin to the species in question," with each star potentially having its own god, echoing Xenophanes' observations. Interplanetary monotheism might emerge as an economical interpretation of planetary religious experiences, though thinkers like Hume and William James did not consider polytheism a multiplication of principles beyond necessity.

Teleological Direction and Cosmic Purpose

The presumed teleological direction of the world-process by an interplanetary personal deity also faces challenges. Beyond distinguishing teleological from non-teleological natural processes, inferring purpose from the universe's behavior, and considering relativity to different frames of reference, the article points out that what appears beneficent to one species might be malefic or indifferent to another. Similarly, divine attributes like wisdom and power are subject to relativistic interpretations. The combination of divine attributes can lead to complex philosophical inferences.

The Leibnitzian Principle of Compossibility

To address these difficulties, the article invokes the "Leibnitzian principle of compossibility." This principle suggests that the interplanetary purpose of the world-process is to achieve the greatest possible variety of "Saucerians" consistent with the greatest possible moral order, meaning the most equitable distribution of happiness across inhabited planets with minimal sacrifice of any species' interests. Dysteleology (apparent lack of purpose) in the universe is thus interpreted as proof that things are ordered for the best, with wider distribution of evil indicating a better outcome for all.

Compossibility also supports the idea of multiple beneficent and powerful purposes, either in conflict or cooperation, to achieve optimal results. This is compared to Aristotle's uncertainty about whether a single "beloved" or fifty-five "unmoved movers" explained the universe's behavior.

Interplanetary Idealism and the Nature of Reality

This "interplanetary contribution to the defense of teleology" is expected to be welcomed by "saucerian pluralistic idealists." The article critiques the idealistic view that nothing exists but "percipere and percipi" (the act of perceiving and that which is perceived), locating this in a divine mind. However, it argues that if the divine mind perceives only itself, its experience becomes equivocal, with one meaning for God and another for "Saucerians." If multiple divine minds exist, and their perceptions are not shared objects, it leads to solipsism. If they all perceive each other's perceptions, it becomes a game of "thimble, thimble, who's got the thimble," with no objective "real" thimble to refer to.

The article suggests that for an object to be common to multiple minds, it must exist independently of being experienced. Religious experience, though seemingly minor, sheds light on the nature of the real, which is at least a value common to a variable conscious content. This content, however, is at variance with itself, leading to conflicting theological and philosophical interpretations. The real can manifest as a personal God, an impersonal grandeur, or the bliss of self-obliteration.

The Limits of Human Perspective and the "Attribute of Thought"

The "partial estrangement" between worlds and forms due to incommunicable experience might lead "Saucerians" to question the existence of other, unrelated "reals." The article notes that the proper study of mankind is no longer itself but the nature of the real to which humans and "Saucerians" belong.

Despite advances in scientific knowledge, fundamental metaphysical problems remain unsolved. The universe continues to defy neat philosophical or theological systems, with superfluous and negative instances often explained away as flaws in finite perspectives rather than issues with reality itself. The article questions whether explaining away negative instances through "sufficient faith" is a valid method or merely leads to a philosophical stalemate.

The Spiritual Revolution of the Congress

The article anticipates that delegates at a hypothetical "Congress" will disband convinced of their own hypotheses' truth. However, the Congress will have initiated a "spiritual revolution" by making the "Attribute of Thought" co-extensive with the "Attribute of Extension," akin to Spinoza's philosophy. This implies a shift from a geo-centric and Ptolemaic view of thought's base to a post-Copernican understanding of extension.

Interplanetary Travel and a Wider Vision

Interplanetary travel may have already acquainted species with the dispersion of thought throughout the universe, balancing their perspectives. For those who have only imagined such travel, the certainty of intelligent and moral life developing in other ways will be more unsettling than past scientific revolutions. The article argues that this knowledge will prevent reducing the real to a "theatre for the strutting of a single species." Instead, every inhabited world must accept it is one among many, viewing and evaluating the real through "a thousand eyes" and humbly accepting the implications of this wider vision.

The universe, thus revealed, will gain majesty and mystery, becoming friendlier. The starry heavens will inspire awe, knowing life is not alone. The text concludes with a poetic reflection on the possibility that questions pondered by humans today were asked and answered in distant galaxies aeons ago, and that future astronomers might decipher messages from extinct intelligent life that was also "wondering what it is all about."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this article revolve around the philosophical and theological implications of extraterrestrial intelligence and the concept of "flying saucers." It critically examines various philosophical positions, including theism (personal and impersonal), idealism, and teleology, in light of a hypothetical interplanetary context. The editorial stance appears to be one of rigorous philosophical inquiry, questioning established assumptions and exploring the logical consequences of novel concepts. The article uses complex philosophical terminology and engages with historical philosophical figures to dissect these ideas, suggesting a critical and analytical approach to the subject matter.