Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Books

Not So Strange Bedfellows: Philosophical Sci Fi Roundup

Nick DiChario is thoughtfully prophetic.

One of the things that philosophy and science fiction have in common is a love of ideas. Many of my favorite SF authors actively embrace philosophy in their novels; and many philosophy professors use SF in their classes to engage students and enhance understanding of complex philosophical questions. In fact, there are some colleges now offering Philosophy through Science Fiction courses – including the small private undergraduate school I attended thirty years ago: they’ve come a long way since my days there! In this article I recommend novels that are not only fun to read, but also serve as fine companions in the classroom. I’ve also tried to select a few titles and authors you won’t necessarily find on standard reading lists.

Ethics Never Gets Old

James Blish won the Hugo Award in 1959 for his novel A Case of Conscience.

…