PHIL 209 - Science Fiction & Philosophy

Credit(s): 3
3 hours lecture, 3 hours contact
Prerequisite(s): ENGL 112
This course investigates the relationship between the discipline of philosophy and the literary genre of science fiction. One method philosophers utilize in addressing philosophical questions is the thought experiment. Thought experiments are hypothetical cases that are meant to reveal possibilities that challenge our everyday preconceptions or surprising truths about the contours of our concepts. Thought experiments are also the trade of authors of science fiction (‘sci-fi’ for short, or, more inclusively, but less popularly, ‘speculative fiction’ or ‘spec-fi’). Distinctive of the genre is the imagining of as yet not actual, but supposedly possible kinds of being or states of affairs based on anticipated scientific discoveries, technological developments and the social transformations affected by those changes. Not only do philosophy and science fiction both utilize thought experiments, but the topics and problems that they address largely overlap. The relation between appearance and reality, the meaning and possession of freedom and consciousness, what makes something a person, the nature of time and possibility of time travel are just a few of the issues that are the province of both sci-fi and philosophy, and make up the content of this course. Students will read philosophical texts alongside works of sci-fi to illuminate those issues in ways that could not be achieved by study of either medium in isolation.