Science Fiction and Political Philosophy - From Bacon to Black Mirror

This edited collection uses works of science fiction to illustrate and explore the fundamental themes and concepts of political philosophy, including freedom, justice, and the advantages and disadvantages of progress.

List of contents

Chapter 1: Fiction and the Science of Self-Reflection: Francis Bacon's New Atlantis and the Idols of the Mind
Chapter 2: Utopianism and Realism in Shakespeare's The Tempest
Chapter 3: Frankenstein and the Ugliness of Enlightenment,
Chapter 4: Technology and Anxiety in Melville's Lightning-Rod Man
Chapter 5: The Head, the Hands, and the Heart: Political Rationalism in Fritz Lang's Metropolis
Chapter 6: Technology and Human Nature in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Chapter 7: An Exhortation to Secure Humanity against the Buggers: Ender's Game
Chapter 8: Seeing and Being Seen in the Kingdom of Ends: On Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, and Star Trek: The Next Generation
Chapter 9: Knowledge of Death in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go
Chapter 10: Founding a Posthuman Political Order in M. R. Carey's The Girl with All the Gifts
Chapter 11: Bacon, Transhumanism, and Reflections from the Black Mirror

About the author

Steven Michels is associate provost and professor of political science at Sacred Heart University.

Timothy McCranor is doctoral student in the Political Science Department at Boston College.

Summary

This edited collection uses works of science fiction to illustrate and explore the fundamental themes and concepts of political philosophy, including freedom, justice, and the advantages and disadvantages of progress.

Product details

• Authors: Timothy McCranor
• Assisted by: Timothy McCranor (Editor)
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2020
• EAN: 9781498586436
• ISBN: 978-1-4985-8643-6
• No. of pages: 250
• Series: Politics, Literature, & Film
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, English, higher education, literary studies, literature, Political philosophy, political science, political theory, popular culture, science fiction