Understanding UAPs: Surveying the Nature-Spirits Hypothesis
Travis Dumsday
Limina: The Journal of UAP Studies
Summary
Academic philosopher Travis Dumsday (Concordia University of Edmonton) surveys the animism or nature-spirits hypothesis as an ontological framework for UAP phenomena - the idea that UAP may involve non-material or paraphysical entities consistent with animist traditions across world religions. Positioned against the dominant extraterrestrial hypothesis, this represents a non-naturalist alternative grounded in analytic metaphysics and comparative religion. The paper maps the hypothesis within a broader taxonomy of UAP explanations and argues it warrants serious philosophical consideration.
Abstract
The UAP literature confronts a fundamental question: assuming these phenomena represent something objectively real rather than delusion or misperception, what are we encountering? A taxonomy of explanations divides into naturalist theories - compatible with metaphysical naturalism - and non-naturalist alternatives. While naturalist approaches, particularly the extraterrestrial hypothesis, dominated early ufology, non-naturalist perspectives have grown increasingly influential since the late 1960s. Contemporary non-naturalist theories draw from world religions, philosophy, history, and analytic metaphysics. This paper surveys one significant non-naturalist theory: the nature-spirits or animism hypothesis regarding UAP ontology, examining its historical antecedents, philosophical coherence, and relationship to other paraphysical and cryptoterrestrial frameworks in the literature.
Citation
Travis Dumsday. (2025). Limina: The Journal of UAP Studies. DOI: 10.59661/001c.131852
https://doi.org/10.59661/001c.131852