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Phenomenology of UAP II: Intersubjectivity

  22 April - 10 June 2025
Tuesdays
6pm-9 pm EST

Below, interested students and members of the Society can learn about our online course offering by philosopher, scholar of phenomenology and Advisory Board member Dr. Kimberly S. Engels. This course is suitable as a sequel to Phenomenology of UAP I, or as a standalone course. 

all courses are 125 USD or 50 USD for 3 months

Planet and Moon

This course will focus on using the phenomenological method, founded by Edmund Husserl but developed further by other thinkers, to explore the role of intersubjectivity in the study of UAP. It is suitable as a sequel to those who have taken Phenomenology of UAP I, or as a standalone course. The phenomenological method takes lived conscious experience as the starting point of inquiry, rather than the third-person observability approach taken by the natural sciences. The encounter with another consciousness, or an Other, has been explored by all phenomenological thinkers, as the encountering of another consciousness has profound phenomenological and epistemological import. This course will begin by exploring what it looks like to posit intersubjectivity as an epistemic virtue as opposed to objectivity, and the role of intersubjectivity in the human understanding of UAP witness reports. Next, we explore the question of what it means to consider encounters with UAP and non-human intelligences (NHI) as intersubjective experiences. Through accounts of intersubjectivity given to us by Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jean-Luc Marion, we will explore the conceptual tensions and phenomenological possibilities that emerge from our encounter with human others as well as with the Unidentified, Unacknowledged Other. This course will also feature UAP Studies literature from scholars such as Jacques Vallee, John E. Mack, James Madden, Diana Pasulka, Jeffrey Kripal, and Dr. Engels' own work, as well as work from experiencers such as Whitley Strieber, Yossi Ronan, and Matthew Roberts.

No no matter what your time zone, or your schedule, we encourage you to enroll! For the benefit of any student who can't attend live, the Society will record the sessions and make them available to students (once video processing is complete - generally, two to three days).

Night Sky with Stars

Weekly Topics 

 

Week 1: Introduction to Phenomenology

 Authors: Edmund Husserl, Kimberly Engels

Week 2: Intersubjectivity as an Epistemic Virtue

Authors: Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, Robert Sokolowski  

Week 3: Husserl and Intersubjectivity: Empathy 

Authors: Edmund Husserl, John Mack 

Week 4: Close Encounters and Sartre's Account of the Other 

Authors: Jean Paul Sartre, Michael Masters

Week 5: Face to Face Encounters: 

Authors: Emmanuel Levinas, John Mack, Whitley Strieber

Week 6: The Intersubjective and Abjection

Authors: Julia Kristeva, Matthew Roberts, Kimberly Engels

Week 7: UAP as Saturated Phenomena

Authors: Jean Luc Marion, Yossi Ronan, Kimberly Engels

Week 8: Heidegger, Technology, Nature

Authors: Martin Heidegger, James Madden, Diana Pasulka 

New Moon

Kimberly S. Engels is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Molloy University and past president of the North American Sartre Society. She received her PhD from Marquette University, where she first studied phenomenology. Her UAP research interests lie in the lived conscious experience of individuals who report UAP encounters. 

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