In some cases – most famously 2001: A Space Odyssey – something unfathomably alien chooses, for unfathomably alien reasons, to give our ape-like ancestors an intellectual leg up so we can become the planet-dominating, planet-threatening species we are today.
The second type of argument that Rawls provides in favor of his favored restrictions on religious reasons, however, appeals not to the claim that justifying coercion on the basis of alien reasons disrespects our compatriots, but to the idea that the reasons on which we rely must be ones that others can endorse as autonomous agents.
Though their people died, the aliens reasoned, their civilization and culture remained intact.
Furthermore, things in themselves can play no explanatory role here because they are ex hypothesi alien to reason.
Like I said, the reason alien movies still have the power to scare me is that no one has been able to prove that the crazy abduction people are lying.
Brin and Ive came here legally, but, even when it comes to undocumented aliens, there's reason to doubt the alarmist warnings about their coalescence into a permanent underclass.
Interestingly, in a break with some of my liberal kin, I don't mind the use of the word alien, for two reasons: It's part of the statute -- a term of art, as we lawyers say.
The alien has a logical reason to be there, it turns out, but its presence was inadequately explained.
The lyrics have a spirit of forgiveness that seems alien to government ("no reason to be ashamed"), but the melody is lovely.
The story kicks in when Melanie is captured and another alien, who for some reason is called a Seeker (Diane Kruger), slices open Melanie's neck and inserts a Soul, a luminous white blob with tentacles that look like sperm.
