Philosophy And Science Fiction

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.

Peter A. Frenc 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 was its Director from 2000 to 2013. Dr. French earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College, an M.A. from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. from the University of Miami, and did postdoctoral 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.
Howard K. Wettstein Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside.
Eric Schwitzge is Professor of Philosophy at University of California, Riverside. He works primarily in philosophy of psychology and its connections to epistemology, metaphysics, moral psychology, meta-philosophy, and classical Chinese philosophy.