Part of the problem of connecting the phrase ‘Philosophy is Dead’ to the advent of the Alien in modern society, literature and T.V. specifically, is that the Alien first emerged in modern Philosophy long before any of this. Specifically in Kant’s Anthropology, among other places (see quotation below):

The highest concept of species may be that of a terrestrial rational being [eines irdischen vernünftigen], but we will not be able to describe its characteristics because we do not know of a nonterrestrial rational being [nichtirdischen Wesen] which would enable us to refer to its properties and consequently classify that terrestrial being as rational. It seems, therefore, that the problem of giving an account of the character of the human species is quite insoluble [sie schlechterdings unauflöslich], because the problem could only be solved by comparing two species of rational beings on the basis of experience, but experience has not offered us a comparison between two species of rational beings. p.237–38 VIII 215

Here, the alien emerges not in the death of philosophy, but in the ‘death of metaphysics’ — and the God of Nature – that witnesses the birth of modern philosophy as a ‘system of science’.

Leaving the details of this transformation to the side in such a short response, let it simply be said that the Alien has been in the orbit of western philosophy since Kant. Contrary to what is being claimed, that all the weirdo Ancient Alien authors prove that philosophy is dead, it is quite the contrary: the anthropological God, the first ancient alien, emerges in a philosophical discourse at the horizon of the achievement of metaphysics in a scientific philosophy. The ‘Other’ cannot now, in a scientific philosophy, simply be God and non-terrestrial, but must be incorporated in a rational anthropological species that is non-terrestrial. Thus counter to what the author claims :<<<Does Ancient Aliens support Hawking’s claim that “philosophy is dead.” In my view, yes. Ancient Aliens illustrates the absence of a cosmic/space philosophy that situates the origins and destiny of the human species in the universe as revealed by contemporary cosmology. Why else is paranormalism proliferating in pop culture, TV shows, and Hollywood movies?>>>

Philosophy is not dead, but more precisely its metaphysics is achieved in giving “the origins and destiny of the human species in the universe in a contemporary cosmology” of the alien. This is nothing other than the reason of Kant’s Anthropology and Cosmology. All the paranormalism, pop culture, TV shows, etc. are just a remake and indicative of what Kant predicted as a kind of Cosmopolitanism. Said otherwise, instead of speaking of angels in the theological discourse of the Scholastics, since Kant, one can speak of the alien in the anthropological discourse of the Cosmopolitans.

Whether aliens actually exist or not, have visited the earth, etc., I defer comment on here since that is not the first question. The primary question I am responding to is how did the alien first emerge in the discourse of philosophy and science. Once this question is answered, then anyone who cares to speculate on these secondary questions can do so. My aim is just to situate the scholarly problem in a short response so that people can at least take account of the tradition in a more precise way.

Cheers,

S