Extra-Terrestrial Life

What this episode covers

Why did early modern philosophers posit legions of blissful aliens to help solve the problem of evil? Is life essentially terrestrial? Does SETI count as a scientific enterprise? If Martians could talk, would we ever be able to understand them? Join Megan and Frank as they philosophize about our friends from the final frontier! ----------------------- Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/meganjfritts/home?authuser=0] Frank J. Cabrera - Research (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/frank-j-cabrera/research?pli=1] Email: [email protected] ----------------------- Bibliography: Defense Department announces new UFO task force - CBS News [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ufo-task-force-department-of-defense/] Kukla, A. (2001). ETI: On the prospects and pursuitworthiness of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence - ScienceDirect [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S003936810000025X?via%3Dihub]  Plutarch • On the Face in the Moon (Part 1 of 4) (uchicago.edu) [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/moralia/the_face_in_the_moon*/a.html] Lucretius - On the Nature of Things by Lucretius (mit.edu) [http://classics.mit.edu/Carus/nature_things.html] Pearce, K. - Space Aliens and Skeptical Theism (blog.kennypearce.net) [http://blog.kennypearce.net/archives/philosophy/philosophy_of_religion/the_problem_of_evil/skeptical_theism/space_aliens_and_skeptical_the.html] Draper, P. (1989) Pain and Pleasure: An Evidential Problem for Theists on JSTOR [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2215486] Crowe, M. (2017). William and John Herschel's Quest for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life | SpringerLink [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-32826-3_5] Fantastically Wrong: Why the Guy Who Discovered Uranus Thought There's Life on the Sun | WIRED [https://www.wired.com/2014/08/fantastically-wrong-life-on-the-sun/] There Is Only One Other Planet In Our Galaxy That Could Be Earth-Like, Say Scientists (forbes.com) [https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2021/06/23/there-is-only-one-other-planet-in-our-galaxy-that-could-be-earth-like-say-scientists/] Rare Earth hypothesis: Why we might really be alone in the universe | Astronomy.com [https://astronomy.com/news/2022/07/rare-earth-hypothesis-why-we-might-really-be-alone-in-the-universe] Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu) [https://iep.utm.edu/pseudoscience-demarcation/] Frank Cabrera, String Theory, Non-Empirical Theory Assessment, and the Context of Pursuit - PhilPapers [https://philpapers.org/rec/CABSTN] A More Parsimonious Explanation for UFO Abduction on JSTOR [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1449009] 75 Years Ago, 'War Of The Worlds' Started A Panic. Or Did It? : The Two-Way : NPR [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/30/241797346/75-years-ago-war-of-the-worlds-started-a-panic-or-did-it] Whitmore, J. (1995). Religious Dimensions of the UFO Abductee Experience [https://ixtheo.de/Record/1843676702] ("UFO abductions seem to be primarily an American phenomenon; although several important cases have been reported outside the U.S., some argue that abductions are mainly confined to this country.", p. 81) ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: CWK7B5OYQTUXZOER