Philosophy and Science Fiction, Volume XXXIX

by French, Peter A.; Wettstein, Howard K.; Schwitzgebel, Eric

• ISBN13: 9781119255437
• ISBN10: 1119255430
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-12-14
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Science Fiction and Philosophy deals with science-fictional thought experiments and their long history in philosophy, with roots back to the mythological inventions of ancient philosophers such as Plato and Zhuangzi. These thought experiments play a prominent role especially in current metaphysical theorizing about personal identity, artificial minds, and the nature of time. This issue includes reflections on the nature of science fiction, on the epistemology of science fictional thought experiments, on our possible moral and social relationships with future intelligent beings, on the prospects of human or post-human self-transformation, and on time travel. While most of the contributions are expository essays written in the typical style of journal articles, two of the contributions are original short stories written by prominent SF writers whose writing is informed by the advanced graduate work they have done in philosophy.

Author Biography

Peter A. French is the Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Arizona State University. He is the Founding Director of the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics and its Director from 2000 to 2013. Before that he was the Cole Chair in Ethics, Director of the Ethics Center, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy of the University of South Florida. He was the Lennox Distinguished Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Trinity University, and served as Exxon Distinguished Research Professor in the Center for the Study of Values at the University of Delaware. During his 51-year career in academia he has also been a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Dalhousie University, and Northern Arizona University. Dr. French earned a BA from Gettysburg College, an MA from the University of Southern California, a Ph.D. from the University of Miami and did post-doctoral work at Oxford University. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree for his work in philosophy from Gettysburg College in 2006. Dr. French is the author of twenty books including War and Moral Dissonance; The Virtues of Vengeance; Cowboy Metaphysics; Ethics and College Sports; Corporate Ethics; Responsibility Matters; Collective and Corporate Responsibility; Ethics in Government; and The Scope of Morality. Some of his works have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian, French, Serbian, and Spanish. Dr. French also was the editor of the Journal of Social Philosophy. He has published scores of articles in the major philosophical and legal journals and reviews, many of which have been anthologized. In 2008 the APA's Newsletter on Philosophy and Law dedicated an issue to him, and at its 2014 Central Division meetings in Chicago, the APA honored him with a session on his work.

Howard K. Wettstein is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. He has authored three books, The Significance of Religious Experience, and Other Essays (forthcoming), The Magic Prism: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, and Has Semantics Rested On a Mistake? and Other Essays, and edited others including Themes From Kaplan (co-edited) and Diasporas and Exiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity. He is currently writing a new book on the philosophy of religion; his work in that area includes such topics as doctrine and the viability of philosophical theology; the Book of Job and the problem of evil; the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac); the character of religious experience and religious life; and the roles of awe, ritual, and intimacy. His has published articles on these topics and well as in the philosophy of language.

Eric Schwitzgebel is Professor of Philosophy at University of California, Riverside. He works primarily in philosophy of psychology and its connections to epistemology, metaphysics, moral psychology, metaphilosophy, and classical Chinese philosophy. Recent work includes the book Perplexities of Consciousness; journal articles "The Crazyist Metaphysics of Mind", "1% Skepticism", "The Moral Behavior of Ethicists" (with Joshua Rust), "A Theory of Jerks", "A Dispositional Approach to Attitudes", and "Death and Self in the Incomprehensible Zhuangzi"; and science fiction stories "Reinstalling Eden" (with R. Scott Bakker), "Out of the Jar", and "The Dauphin's Metaphysics". He blogs at The Splintered Mind.

Table of Contents

But Is It Science Fiction?”: Science Fiction and a Theory of Genre 1
Simon J. Evnine

Improve Your Thought Experiments Overnight with Speculative Fiction! 29
Ross P. Cameron

Fact, Fiction, and Fantasy 46
Ben Blumson

The Epistemic Value of Speculative Fiction 58
Johan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz

The Alienation of Humans and Animals in Uplift Fiction 78
Ina Roy-Faderman

A Defense of the Rights of Artificial Intelligences 98
Eric Schwitzgebel and Mara Garza

“This Endless Space between the Words” 120
Troy Jollimore

Metaphysical Daring as a Posthuman Survival Strategy 144
Pete Mandik

Nowhere Man: Time Travel and Spatial Location 158
Sara Bernstein

Speculative Fiction and the Philosophy of Perception 169
Brian L. Keeley

Philosophical Science Fiction Intelligent Gorilla Comes to Shabbos Dinner
Eric Linus Kaplan

Crash Space 186
R. Scott Bakker