Messianism and UFO Sightings as Counterfactual Strategies of Enchantment of the World

Content Provider	Scilit
Author	Urbanowicz, Piotr
Copyright Year	2018
Description	Summary: In this text, I argue that there are numerous affinities between $19^{th}$ century messianism and testimonies of UFO sightings, both of which I regarded as forms of secular millennialism. The common denominator for the comparison was Max Weber’s concept of “disenchantment of the world” in the wake of the Industrial Revolution which initiated the era of the dominance of rational thinking and technological progress. However, the period’s counterfactual narratives of enchantment did not repudiate technology as the source of all social and political evil—on the contrary, they variously redefined its function, imagining a possibility of a new world order. In this context, I analysed the social projects put forward by Polish Romantics in the first half of the $19^{th}$ century, with emphasis on the role of technology as an agent of social change. Similarly, the imaginary technology described by UFO contactees often has a redemptive function and is supposed to bring solution to humanity’s most dangerous problems.
Related Links	https://content.sciendo.com/downloadpdf/journals/mik/14/1/article-p99.pdf
ISSN	18224555
e-ISSN	18224547
DOI	10.2478/mik-2018-0009
Journal	Art History & Criticism
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	14
Language	English
Publisher	Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Publisher Date	2018-12-01
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Journal: Art History & Criticism Art History & Criticism History and Philosophy of Science
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	History Museology Visual Arts and Performing Arts