Philosophy And SF

We have tried to show that it is possible to discuss philosophical questions like the mind-body problem through the prism of the works of a writer like Poul Anderson. In a sense, the question of a hereafter is relevant even to a historical novel like Anderson's Rogue Sword if only because the novel is set in a period when every main and supporting character, spear-carrier and passerby was a Christian or a Muslim and therefore believed in a hereafter even though, because the genre is historical fiction, not historical fantasy, there are no apparitions or other supernatural events during the course of the novel. The characters would not be surprised if there had been and might even claim to have experienced such. Their beliefs affect their behaviour. It mattered to Hamlet's father that he was murdered without being allowed to confess his sins first and such a consideration remains important to that kind of character even if we think that the Ghost was a collective hallucination. (In one version, seen on TV, the same actor played both Hamlet and the Ghost speaking mediumistically through Hamlet.)

I have always regarded an interest in philosophy and an interest in sf as basically the same speculative interest:

"There are more things in heaven and earth..." etc.