UFO studies should be 'legitimate university subject', claims American professor

UFO studies should be 'legitimate university subject', claims American professor

The studing of UFOs and other unexplained phenomena from space should be a legitimate university subject, an American professor, Philip Haseley, has claimed.


The New York anthropology professor said the subject should be part of the mainstream as a serious “area of study”.

The Niagara County Community College, a state university in New York, lecturer said due to the high amount of sightings every year, it should follow that students should be able to investigate phenomenon.

"(A sighting) happens to millions of people (around the world)," he said.

"It's about time we looked into this as a worthy area of study.

“It's important that the whole subject be brought out in the open and investigated.”

Prof Haseley, who is also head of the Western New York Mutual UFO Network, an organisation that is focused on UFO research, said there were up to 50 UFO sightings are reported every month across region.

He said the group investigated the sightings in a “scientific manner” using field investigation, radar, astronomy and meteorology.

"To say we are UFO believers basically implies we are taking this on faith, and that's not the case. There's plenty of evidence,” he said.

He dismissed the inevitable suggestions from skeptics that such study would be waste of time.

"We have to deal with skeptics like any other UFO organisation, and we are perfectly willing to be critiqued," he told the Buffalo News in New York.

"We know people who think this is a nonsense subject. And we'll refer you to voluminous literature and facts about UFOs."

Last year there were almost 400 reported sightings to the Ministry of Defence of UFOs throughout Britain – a figure that had tripled from the previous year.

The so-called "X Files" reported to the MoD's UFO desk was the "busiest" year on record.

Source

I suppose that the information actually contained herein is trivial, but the fact that such conversation is being publicized is a good thing, in my opinion. I don't really accept the ET explanation, I'm of the opinion that any large body of UFO reports actually contains reports of many different phenomena which people struggle to identify. Perhaps some of them are planes, some are stars, some are secret military craft, some are weather related, maybe some are even an as-of-yet unidentified natural aerial phenomena, and theres always the possibility that some are ET craft or ETs themselves(I think this is a stretch though). Maybe some are what we might consider spiritual in nature(but we might consider anything sufficiently strange as "spiritual" in nature).

The fact of the matter is that the debate is not settled and there are enough unanswered questions that no one should really be satisfied by the current state of affairs. There is not compelling evidence prefering the ET explanation over all other theories, and there is not compelling evidence prefering any specific conventional explanation for every single case. I think that a tremendous portion of the mystery can be attributed to an uninformed public(in terms of knowledge of aerial phenomena) and the difficulty which humans have in forming accurate perceptions of things in the sky(ie. how far, how fast, how big something is). However, I think enough of a serious - less easily dismissed - mystery remains to justify investigation into the interesting cases, as well as education about conventional aerial phenomena so as to avoid confusion.

If you admit that the debate is not settled(and look around you if you have any doubts), isn't it appropriate to try to better understand the phenomena through science and serious investigation?

reply to post by OnceReturned


It is hardly a major course of study at this level of knowledge on the subject.

Maybe a course at some colleges, but into what specialization would it fit into? Perhaps if we can discover what they are, and where they come from, entirely new fields of study will open up.

it would definitly make the topic a more professionally studied field. even if UFOs are not ETs i think by having it studied professionally we can discover some really interesting things by all these unidentified occurances

reply to post by SirPsychoSexy


That's true, I suppose we probably don't know enough about it teach very much. I suppose you could investigate the UFO phenomenon from a sociological standpoint, and see how the stories fit into the culture. Or you could have a natural science class look at a famous photos and videos and try to explain them in natural terms. Or history classes could look at UFO stories throughout history and their historical significance. I think you could make something interesting of it. The main point though would be to get attention and interest in the field and not necessarily to teach the explanation for UFOs. Attention at the university level leads to real research, which is what is needed.

There is definitely enough to be researched about UFOs and such to create a whole subject around, but I just don't see how it would really fit in at a university. Maybe at some sort of specialized school. But that's just me.

reply to post by LaurenVirgo


There are all kinds of goofy classes at legitimate universities. I'm not sure you should be able to(or want to) major in Ufology, but certainly there is enough information on the UFO phenomenon to form the basis for some real classes. UFOs in fiction, UFOs and ETs in ancient history, Ancient religions as UFO/ET stories, UFOs as atmospheric phenomena, Psychology of the alien abduction phenomena, Hoaxing UFOs in photography and film, Forensic science in close encounters, UFOs and modern mythology. . . . All of these things could occupy a semester of reading and thinking, they would make reasonable classes.

reply to post by OnceReturned


Thanks for sharing this story buddy.

I think this subject should be taught in Universities.

If you had evidence (photo's videos) The could be looked at in a scientific manor, looking at the physics of how the would be moving as they did, or how the make the sharp turns that they did. I think if it would looked at in a scientific light it would come up quickly that some of these things defy our machines and understanding of how we fly.

Whether it is looking at it scientifically or at looking at he impact the UFO's have on our culture it would be most important. There could be so much learned from this subject, even if it is a natural anomaly that it is almost a disgrace that these are looked at as bullcrap.

Thanks for the post. S&F from me!!

Pred...

How much scientific method can truly be applied to just an eyewitness report though? To me, a thorough class in this subject would cover:

1) The history of the phenomenon
2) The most infamous hoaxes
3) Forensic document analysis
4) General photo and video analysis
5) Interviewing and eyewitness skills
6) Research techniques
7) Verification of known phenomena and identifying aircraft and weather phenomena

just to state a few....

As stated though, I can't see someone spending a grand or more of mom and dad's money on this subject....much less majoring in it. I may be a skeptical believer, but I'm also a realist, and I can't see a degree in UFOlogy carrying much weight.

This would actually make more sense in the sociology field, i.e. the effect and social stigma of UFO and alien sightings and reporting them.

reply to post by Gazrok


I am not talking about an eyewitness report though. They are the most unreliable things in the world.

I am speaking about the physics of how something moves, how it holds in the air without moving and with no sounds. These should be looked at by people in physics fields that understand these things. They should be studied as those are the people that can put video and photos (to a point) to rest or confirm them if they are unidentified.

I agree I wouldn't want a degree in UFOlogy but I am sure there are some people that would love to study these things, and not just the psychology about it, which would be interesting none the less.

But to give someone a outlet to let them study this phenomenon with scientific credibility then maybe it would lend some of the credibility to the subject of UFO's, which no matter how you look at it would be a good thing.

Pred...

reply to post by OnceReturned


Here are a couple of pictures of Philip Haseley:

media.buffalonews.com...
www.stangordon.info...

Here is a link to a university website, as well as an email address for Philip Haseley:
www.niagaracc.suny.edu...




[edit on 18-8-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

As someone with a degree in History, I think it would be an interesting field of study. Perhaps focusing on the history of this in terms of things like Project Blue Book and the general mythology of the whole subject.

It is certainly a fascinating subject in terms of history and mass psychology.

reply to post by OnceReturned
A college course would be a more viable option as part of the humanities. It could discuss cultural influences and history. Adding legitimacy to the subject will probably take more than this though.

The Professor is also possibly somewhat removed from daily reality....just a bit.

A University would need to develop a course with staff able to deliver it. This would need funding, training and the demand to fill the places on the course. The potential student would have to choose this degree course over others and commit themselves to the thousands that courses cost. It would still be a vocational degree with a minimal chance of employment and the huge probability that you'd never advance your field.

I wonder if there are a hundred people (worldwide) making a living from the specific study of UFOs?

If we think of some of the historical UFO researchers like Hynek, Keyhoe or Vallee. they've all been educated in the sciences. They've then applied the science to the phenomena. This suggests that a Ufology course might be meaningless when placed alongside physics, meteorology etc. Wouldn't it become a shallow education in general science and psychology with a history of UFOs tacked on? Sort of a Jack of all trades and master of none?

The modern 'big names' in UFO research have backgrounds in other areas. Many of them have separate occupations to fund the interest in UFOs and probably still struggle.

I agree, its kind of meaningless in our world without any cooperation from .. like the National Agency for Shady Astronomy.

If your lucky in Canada you can get a degree under, lets say 100k US converted and all. In the United States, i think you need to be more then lucky to get under that amount of cash for 3, 4 or 5 years of payments.

The problem is the way we look at it.

If a UFO defy physics, we reevaluate physics but the ufo become the theory or law over time in a way or another. Somehow, it is far from a bad idea to think about it, but we need to think differently and reevaluate a lot of things then.

Thinking differently in a fictional way. On some another planet, right now light speed converted and all, there is students laughing at us hard, if they can only express that feeling lol.for not having degree for ufo or alien at our so called higher education.

It has been the role of science to walk into the unknown and make it known. There is a vast amount of information about this topic and it's implications out on the Internet. Some of it is good, some of it is bad and some is quite strange. By denying a subject with such profound possibilities is promoting ignorance and leaves us just waiting to be waked on the back of the head.