[The UFO Rabbit Hole] Ep 18: An Interview with Dr. James Madden: Philosophy & UFOs
Feb 9, 2023
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Dr. James Madden, a philosophy professor, discusses the philosophical implications of the UFO phenomenon including Plato's Cave, Heidegger's influence on ufology, and Aristotle's natural theology. They also explore personal perspectives on UFOs, the connection between studying UFOs and morality, embracing new ideas, the relationship between technology and humanity, ancient Greek philosophy, interlocking hierarchies, selective perception, and the intersection of philosophy, religion, and the paranormal.
Plato's allegory of the cave serves as a metaphor for education and enlightenment, emphasizing the transformative power of education and the perpetual struggle to comprehend deeper truths.
Plato suggests that true enlightenment requires a glimpse of something beyond ordinary perception, which can come from external sources like UFO encounters or anomalous experiences.
Plato's idea of education involves a transformative journey from ignorance to enlightenment, emphasizing the importance of cultivating both body and mind to understand absolute ideals.
The allegory of the cave highlights the difficulty of expressing and articulating truths observed during enlightenment using everyday language, leaving individuals inarticulate in conveying their insights.
The concept of the umwelt suggests that humans have a limited perspective of reality based on their evolutionary needs and sensory capabilities, explaining the elusive nature of the UFO phenomenon.
Deep dives
Education and Enlightenment in Plato's Cave
Plato's allegory of the cave serves as a metaphor for education and enlightenment. The journey out of the cave represents the process of gaining knowledge and understanding beyond the illusions of everyday life. Plato emphasizes the importance of physical and intellectual training in education, starting with practical skills and progressing to abstract knowledge. The ultimate goal is to reach a higher understanding of the absolute ideals, such as the idea of good. However, articulating and explaining this higher knowledge is challenging, and it often falls short in everyday language. Plato suggests that true enlightenment requires a glimpse of something beyond ordinary perception, a revelation that can come from an external source. The allegory of the cave highlights the transformative power of education and the perpetual struggle to comprehend the deeper truths of existence.
The Nature of Enlightenment and Human Experience
Plato's understanding of enlightenment suggests that it is a fundamental aspect of human experience. He posits that humans are naturally inclined to conform, seeking collective illusions to function effectively in society. However, there is also a deep yearning for a higher truth that exists beyond these illusions. Plato's metaphor of the cave shows that enlightenment requires an external force to awaken individuals from their ordinary perception and pull them towards a higher understanding. This force can manifest in various ways, such as UFO encounters or other anomalous experiences. The process of enlightenment often leaves individuals inarticulate, as they struggle to express their newfound knowledge within the constraints of everyday language. Plato suggests that the act of remembering our previous enlightenment experiences is essential for leading a morally righteous life. The nature of enlightenment remains a perennial problem, perpetually challenging humanity to transcend the illusions of the cave and embrace higher truths.
Education and the Pursuit of Goodness
Plato's idea of education involves a transformative journey from ignorance to enlightenment. The process starts with physical training, followed by learning practical skills or trades, which gradually lead to the study of abstract sciences and philosophy. Plato recognizes the importance of cultivating both body and mind to reach the understanding of the absolute ideals, particularly the idea of good. Education plays a critical role in enabling individuals to grasp the true nature of goodness and morality. It allows them to move beyond the limited perspectives of everyday life and conformity to uncover higher truths. While education guides individuals towards enlightenment, it is ultimately the individual's responsibility to make the leap and fully comprehend the inherent goodness that governs all things. This pursuit of goodness drives individuals to become virtuous and act wisely, leading them to a morally virtuous life.
The Search for Truth and the Limits of Language
Plato's allegory of the cave also highlights the difficulty of expressing and articulating the truths observed during enlightenment. Language, bound by everyday perceptions and the cave's illusions, falls short in capturing the depth and complexity of higher knowledge. Individuals who have experienced enlightenment may struggle to convey their insights using ordinary language. Plato suggests that the search for truth requires a different level of understanding beyond what can be communicated using everyday language. While individuals may attempt to explain their experiences within the confines of the cave's language, they are unable to fully grasp or articulate the profundity of their enlightenment. This limitation underscores the perpetual challenge of comprehending and conveying higher truths that exist beyond ordinary perception.
The concept of the oomveld and the limited perspective of human perception
The oomveld, or the selective world of perceptual experience, is a concept that suggests humans have a limited perspective of reality based on their evolutionary needs and sensory capabilities. Just like a tick's oomveld is centered around skin acid, heat, and surface pressure, humans have their own selective view of the world. This limited perspective means that there may be other animals or phenomena that exist outside of our oomveld and are barely perceptible to us. This hypothesis helps explain the elusive nature of the phenomenon and doesn't require us to posit elaborate conspiracy theories. It also aligns with concepts in cognitive science and biology, highlighting the filtering nature of human perception.
Encountering the unfamiliar in the uber oomveld
When humans encounter the phenomenon, they may be encountering entities or animals that exist outside of our oomveld. These beings may be from Earth, but they operate on the periphery of our perception, making the encounter feel eerie and alien. Just like a tick encountering a human or a shark encountering a human, there is limited mutual understanding due to our divergent sensory capabilities and evolutionary histories. The phenomenon, therefore, represents a glimpse into a realm of existence that is beyond our normal sensory perception, leading to an uncanny experience.
The importance of acknowledging our limited perception
Understanding our limited perspective of reality helps us appreciate the vastness of the world outside our oomveld. Just as we learn about meteorites falling from the sky or encounter experiences that challenge our senses, the phenomenon introduces us to concepts and beings that lie outside our traditional perceptual framework. By acknowledging the limitations of our senses, we can create space to explore alternative hypotheses and embrace older wisdom that may have been dismissed or overlooked in the modern era. This perspective allows us to remain open-minded and fosters a deeper understanding of the complexity of our world.
Exploring the changing nature of human work
The podcast discusses how the nature of human work is undergoing a radical change. Traditional notions of pride, achievement, and bodily development are being eroded as humans are reduced to being mere consumers. The speaker highlights the shift towards a new reality where humans spend their days monitoring machines rather than actively engaging in productive work. This transformation is described as an undermining of humanity and a significant change to human nature.
Aristotle's views on extraterrestrial intelligences
The podcast delves into Aristotle's views on extraterrestrial intelligences. Aristotle argued that celestial bodies, such as the moon, were conscious beings that played a role in explaining earthly phenomena. He proposed a hierarchical universe where each level pursued the level above it. This perspective challenges the distinction between natural and supernatural, suggesting that the universe itself is full of things beyond our ordinary consensus reality. The discussion explores the potential implications for religious beliefs and the expansion of ontological perspectives.
In this episode, I’m bringing you an interview with Dr. James Madden, professor of philosophy at Benedictine University. He is a martial artist, fitness coach, and philosopher with particular interest in the philosophy of mind, aesthetics, philosophy of religion, Aristotelianism, and phenomenology.
If you’ll recall from the last episode, Diana mentioned Dr. Madden as someone who shared her “spooky” interpretation of the Cave. I first met Jim when he was a speaker in one of Diana’s classes over the summer on this subject, and I really enjoyed learning from him. He has a really coherent way of placing the Cave within its proper context both within Plato’s Republic and within its historical context that opens up these ideas in inspiring and challenging ways.
So that’s where we’ll start, with an hour-long deep dive into Plato’s Cave, and what it implies for the nature of both reality and the UFO phenomenon. And then in the second half of the interview, we’ll turn to Dr. Madden’s latest philosophical work with regard to the phenomenon including what Heidegger reveals to us about the life and work of Godfather of Modern Ufology, Jaques Vallee, what Aristotle’s natural theology suggests about the potential nature of non-human intelligence, and how that work is being continued in the modern day by Dr. Jeffrey Kripal of Rice University. And finally, we’ll explore Dr. Madden’s fascinating hypothesis for the origins of the UFO phenomenon through the concept of the “umwelt”.
I hope you all enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it. This is my longest episode to date because we were having such a blast that I completely lost track of time. And when I went back to listen again, there wasn’t anything that I wanted to cut out. If you enjoy wading out into the deep end of the UFO phenomenon, this episode is for you.
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