
The Philosophy of Science Fiction
Henri Bergson and the Fabulations of Philip K. Dick
James Edward Burton(Autor*in)
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
Erschienen am 24. September 2015
Buch
Hardcover
248 Seiten
978-1-4742-2766-7 (ISBN)
Beschreibung
The Philosophy of Science Fiction: Henri Bergson and the Fabulations of Philip K. Dick explores the deep affinity between two seemingly quite different thinkers, in their attempts to address the need for salvation in (and from) an era of accelerated mechanization, in which humans' capacity for destroying or subjugating the living has attained a planetary scale.
The philosopher and the science fiction writer come together to meet the contradictory imperatives of a realist outlook-a task which, arguably, philosophy and science fiction could only ever adequately undertake in collaboration. Their respective approaches meet in a focus on the ambiguous status of fictionalizing, or fabulation, as simultaneously one of mechanization's most devastating tools, and the possibility of its undoing.
When they are read together, the complexities and paradoxes thrown up by this ambiguity, with which both Bergson and Dick struggle on their own, open up new ways to navigate ideas of mechanism and mysticism, immanence and transcendence, and the possibility and meaning of salvation. The result is at once an original reading of both thinkers, a new critical theory of the socio-cultural, political and ethical function of fictionalizing, and a case study in the strange affinity, at times the uncanny similarity, between philosophy and science fiction.
The philosopher and the science fiction writer come together to meet the contradictory imperatives of a realist outlook-a task which, arguably, philosophy and science fiction could only ever adequately undertake in collaboration. Their respective approaches meet in a focus on the ambiguous status of fictionalizing, or fabulation, as simultaneously one of mechanization's most devastating tools, and the possibility of its undoing.
When they are read together, the complexities and paradoxes thrown up by this ambiguity, with which both Bergson and Dick struggle on their own, open up new ways to navigate ideas of mechanism and mysticism, immanence and transcendence, and the possibility and meaning of salvation. The result is at once an original reading of both thinkers, a new critical theory of the socio-cultural, political and ethical function of fictionalizing, and a case study in the strange affinity, at times the uncanny similarity, between philosophy and science fiction.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Through a lucid exposition of Bergson and a careful analysis of Dick's novels, [Burton] convincingly argues for their compatible views of salvation ... [His] study is innovative, elegantly written, and not only will it be of interest for scholars of cultural studies and philosophy, but also for science studies scholars. * Pulse: A History, Sociology and Philosophy of Science Journal * Thinking through the work of Philip K. Dick alongside the philosophy of Henri Bergson is no mere contrivance. By showing how each was writing at the edge of knowledge, both theirs and ours, Burton has fabulated a new thought with truly evental consequences for metafiction, ecology, and theology. * John O Maoilearca, Professor of Film and Television Studies, Kingston University, UK * In a brilliant act of superimposition, James Burton brings Henri Bergson's evolutionary mysticism to bear on the divine invasions-in fiction and in life-of S-F writer Philip K. Dick. The vision of "immanent soteriology" that emerges, in which transcendent fictions jam the engines of necessity, not only illuminates the method behind Dick's madness but reveals the crucial emancipatory role that fabulation can and does play within posthuman thought and religion. With clear thinking and graceful writing, Burton boldly indicates a "perturbation in the reality field" of contemporary materialism. * Erik Davis, author of TechGnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information * In investigating both the prolific and controversial science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928-82) and Henri Bergson (1851-1941), whom William James deemed an intellectual genius, Burton (Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin) takes a bifurcated path. Examining the strange affinity between these two seemingly different thinkers, the author navigates ideas of mechanism and mysticism, immanence and transcendence, and the possibility and meaning of soteriology. Both Dick and Bergson balked at the push toward mechanization, in which destruction of the planet seemed so immanent (as it still does today). Only collaboration between a science fiction writer and a philosopher could lead, Burton argues, to a realistic outlook that sutures contradictory imperatives. Their respective approaches may be said to fuse in fictionalizing/fabulation, which is a powerful tool of mechanization, yet is also capable of implementing a device for its undoing. This reviewer's favorite chapter deals with Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), adapted for the screen as Blade Runner in 1982 under the direction of Ridley Scott. Here the author covers provocative themes like robot theology, creative destruction, and salvation. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *Weitere Details
Sprache
Englisch
Verlagsort
London
Großbritannien
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Illustrationen
5 bw illus
Maße
Höhe: 240 mm
Breite: 161 mm
Dicke: 18 mm
Gewicht
540 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4742-2766-7 (9781474227667)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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James Edward Burton
The Philosophy of Science Fiction
Henri Bergson and the Fabulations of Philip K. Dick
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James Burton is a research fellow at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry in Berlin, Germany. A former Alexander von Humboldt fellow, he has been a lecturer at the universities of Goldsmiths, Kent and Klagenfurt. His interdisciplinary research across philosophy, literature, cultural and media studies, concerns the myriad critical, cultural and ethical relationships between fiction, technology and the posthuman.
Inhalt
Acknowledgments
Note on References
Introduction
Philosophy and Science Fiction
The Edge of the Known
The Ethics of Balking
Philip K. Dick Studies
Note on Terminology: Fabulation
Chapter One: Fabulation: Counteracting Reality
Mechanization and the War-instinct
The Biological Origins of Society
Countering the Intellect
The Morality of Violence
Open Morality and the Misdirection of Mechanism
True Mysticism: Immanent Salvation
An Incomplete Soteriology
Fabulation for the Open
Conclusion
Chapter Two: Fabulating Salvation in Four Early Novels
Solar Lottery
The World Jones Made
Vulcan's Hammer
Time Out of Joint
Conclusion: Super-everyman to Solar Shoe Salesman
Chapter Three: The Empire That Never Ended
The Open and the Universal
The Life-Death Chiasmus
The Fictitious Event
The Messianic Tension
The Remnant and Messianic Time
The Magic of Language
Sci-fi: the genre of 'as not'
Conclusion: Gnostic Politics
Chapter Four: Objects of Salvation: The Man in the High Castle
The Fabulation of History
Mechanization and Paralysis
Worldly Remains
Openings Between Worlds
The Tyranny of the Concrete
Objects of Salvation
Conclusion: Reality Fields
Chapter Five: How We Became Post-Android
The Mechanization of Pot-healing
The Alien God
The Saviour in Need
Robot Theology
Humans: the Cosmic Bourgeoisie
Android and Theoid
Creative Destruction
Conclusion
Chapter Six: The Reality of Valis
Salvator Salvandus
The Believer and the Sceptic
The Pharmakonic God
Reduplicative Paramnesia (Time Becomes Space)
The Fabulative Cure
Recursion: Valis as Limitlessly Iterative Soteriology
Befriending God
Conclusion
Epilogue: Soter-ecologies
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Note on References
Introduction
Philosophy and Science Fiction
The Edge of the Known
The Ethics of Balking
Philip K. Dick Studies
Note on Terminology: Fabulation
Chapter One: Fabulation: Counteracting Reality
Mechanization and the War-instinct
The Biological Origins of Society
Countering the Intellect
The Morality of Violence
Open Morality and the Misdirection of Mechanism
True Mysticism: Immanent Salvation
An Incomplete Soteriology
Fabulation for the Open
Conclusion
Chapter Two: Fabulating Salvation in Four Early Novels
Solar Lottery
The World Jones Made
Vulcan's Hammer
Time Out of Joint
Conclusion: Super-everyman to Solar Shoe Salesman
Chapter Three: The Empire That Never Ended
The Open and the Universal
The Life-Death Chiasmus
The Fictitious Event
The Messianic Tension
The Remnant and Messianic Time
The Magic of Language
Sci-fi: the genre of 'as not'
Conclusion: Gnostic Politics
Chapter Four: Objects of Salvation: The Man in the High Castle
The Fabulation of History
Mechanization and Paralysis
Worldly Remains
Openings Between Worlds
The Tyranny of the Concrete
Objects of Salvation
Conclusion: Reality Fields
Chapter Five: How We Became Post-Android
The Mechanization of Pot-healing
The Alien God
The Saviour in Need
Robot Theology
Humans: the Cosmic Bourgeoisie
Android and Theoid
Creative Destruction
Conclusion
Chapter Six: The Reality of Valis
Salvator Salvandus
The Believer and the Sceptic
The Pharmakonic God
Reduplicative Paramnesia (Time Becomes Space)
The Fabulative Cure
Recursion: Valis as Limitlessly Iterative Soteriology
Befriending God
Conclusion
Epilogue: Soter-ecologies
Notes
Bibliography
Index