Dr Christopher Cowie christopher.d.cowie@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Cowie, Christopher
Authors
Abstract
Avi Loeb has defended the hypothesis that the interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, detected in 2017, is in fact an extraterrestrial artefact. His hypothesis has been widely rejected by the scientific community. On examination however it is not clear why. The puzzle is at the level of argument structure. The scientific community's responses to Loeb's hypothesis appear to point to explanations of ‘Oumuamua's properties that are mere possibilities. Yet this is something that Loeb does not contest. I appeal to broadly philosophical considerations to understand and bolster the response to Loeb. These considerations concern the structure of his argument, the role of prior confidences within it, and the presence of ‘unconceived alternative’ explanations. I then generalise. ‘Oumuamua will surely not be the last object that does not admit of straightforward natural explanation and that is claimed to be evidence of an extraterrestrial artefact. I use the preceding discussion of Loeb's argument and the scientific community's response to make some general remarks for future debate about similar cases.
Citation
Cowie, C. (2023). Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Philosophical Quarterly, 73(1), 64-83. https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqac009
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 26, 2022 |
Publication Date | 2023-01 |
Deposit Date | Feb 28, 2022 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 27, 2024 |
Journal | Philosophical Quarterly |
Print ISSN | 0031-8094 |
Electronic ISSN | 1467-9213 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 73 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 64-83 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqac009 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1213591 |
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Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in The Philosophical Quarterly following peer review. The version of record: Christopher Cowie, Arguing About Extraterrestrial Intelligence, The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 73, Issue 1, January 2023, Pages 64–83, https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqac009 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqac009.
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