Philosophically

In a news conference in Florida, Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said he had talked with Trump and found that "there's a lot more alignment, philosophically and spiritually, than I ever thought that there was."

Life should be approached philosophically.

Philosophically spiritualism shows a strong tendency to develop into either panpsychism or transcendentalism.

However, whether they are gods depends on definition. In many religious traditions, a god isn’t just powerful but also a fundamental source of existence—either creating the universe (transcendent) or embodying it (immanent). Extraterrestrials, no matter how advanced, might still be contingent beings—products of the same cosmic processes as us—rather than the ultimate origin of reality. So, they could be deemed gods by some, but philosophically, they might not fit the full criteria.

But perception isn’t reality. A key distinction lies in intent and origin. If these extraterrestrials present themselves as deities (like the Goa’uld in Stargate SG-1), they might exploit our awe for control. Alternatively, they could be benevolent, indifferent, or just curious—none of which inherently makes them gods. Philosophically, a god often implies worship-worthiness tied to ultimate power or moral perfection. An alien species might outclass us in tech—say, building Dyson Spheres or warping spacetime—but still be fallible, selfish, or mortal. Would we call a super-smart, super-strong human a god? Probably not, unless they transcend the natural order entirely.

In reality, while the utilitarian and ‘end-in-itself’ views may be philosophically distinct they are in fact intertwined in a complex and probably unravellable manner within the various personalities representing the competing views.

But he did not subscribe to the winning-is-the-only-thing school, either philosophically or managerially.

[…] it privileges philosophically oriented theory, disregarding popular forms such as, in the present case, anonymous and collective modes of authorship typical of TV, cinema, advertising, street ballads, and compunovels.

To the (philosophically) trained Pantheist, the abstraction, or the noumenon, is the ever to be unknown Deity, the on eternal reality, formless, because homogeneous and impartite; ...

She, seated between her aunt and Mr. Civil (now retired from the ministry on a pension), listening to the wind (for it was autumn) howling vengefully round the porch; while this envied, bedight girl eating her manifold chocolate gifts, would merrily go forth to further triumphs, laughing at the clown, so philosophically funny, despite the cruel ringmaster's whip cuts.