Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition

Editors: Baron, Christian, Halvorsen, Peter Nicolai, Cornea, Christine (Eds.)

  • Explores what science fiction can tell us about the human condition in a technological world, with the ethical dilemmas this entails
  • A real interdisciplinary book, which is authored by scholars and scientists from various disciplines
  • Demonstrates what can be achieved in our understanding of contemporary life in approaching science fiction as a kind of imaginary laboratory for experimentation
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  • ISBN 978-3-319-56577-4
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  • Immediate eBook download after purchase
Hardcover $109.00
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  • ISBN 978-3-319-56575-0
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About this book

This book explores what science fiction can tell us about the human condition in a technological world, with the ethical dilemmas and consequences that this entails. This book is the result of the joint efforts of scholars and scientists from various disciplines. This interdisciplinary approach sets an example for those who, like us, have been busy assessing the ways in which fictional attempts to fathom the possibilities of science and technology speak to central concerns about what it means to be human in a contemporary world of technology and which ethical dilemmas it brings along. One of the aims of this book is to demonstrate what can be achieved in approaching science fiction as a kind of imaginary laboratory for experimentation, where visions of human (or even post-human) life under various scientific, technological or natural conditions that differ from our own situation can be thought through and commented upon. Although a scholarly work, this book is also designed to be accessible to a general audience that has an interest in science fiction, as well as to a broader academic audience interested in ethical questions.

About the authors

Christian Baron is assistant professor at Center for Bioscience and Techo-Anthropology at the Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University Copenhagen.  Originally trained in evolutionary biology and the history and philosophy of science, his areas of interest include the dynamics of biological controversies, the role of expertise and counter-expertise in in policy-advising and public debates on science and the premises for making moral claims. He is also the author of several science fiction short stories that has been published in Danish

Peter Nicolai Halvorsen is student vicar at the Faculty of Health, University of Copenhagen and chairman of the Copenhagen University Network on Science and Religion. His mains areas of interest include naturalism

Christine Cornea is a Lecturer with the Department of Film, Television and Media at the University of East Anglia. She is the author of Science Fiction Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality (co-published RUP/EUP, 2007) and has published widely on science fiction film and television, including articles for Velvet Light Trap, Genders and the Quarterly Review of Film and Video journals. Christine has also published two previous edited collections and is currently completing a further monograph book for Rutgers University Press that focuses upon the post-apocalyptic television drama.

Table of contents (14 chapters)

  • Introduction: Science Fiction at a Crossroad Between Ethics and Imagination

    Baron, Christian (et al.)

    Pages 1-4

  • The Perfect Organism: The Intruder of the Alien Films as a Bio-fictional Construct

    Baron, Christian

    Pages 9-20

  • Science Fiction at the Far Side of Technology: Vernor Vinge’s Singularity Thesis Versus the Limits of AI-Research

    Johansen, Mikkel Willum

    Pages 21-40

  • A Greenhouse on Mars

    Westermann, Peter

    Pages 41-58

  • Fascinating! Popular Science Communication and Literary Science Fiction: The Shared Features of Awe and Fascination and Their Significance to Ideas of Science Fictions as Vehicles for Critical Debate About Scientific Enterprises and Their Ethical Implications

    Meyer, Gitte

    Pages 59-80

Buy this book

eBook $79.99
price for Mexico (gross)
  • ISBN 978-3-319-56577-4
  • Digitally watermarked, DRM-free
  • Included format: PDF, EPUB
  • ebooks can be used on all reading devices
  • Immediate eBook download after purchase
Hardcover $109.00
price for Mexico
  • ISBN 978-3-319-56575-0
  • Free shipping for individuals worldwide
  • Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 business days.
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Bibliographic Information

Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Science Fiction, Ethics and the Human Condition
Editors
  • Christian Baron
  • Peter Nicolai Halvorsen
  • Christine Cornea
Copyright
2017
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright Holder
Springer International Publishing AG
eBook ISBN
978-3-319-56577-4
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-56577-4
Hardcover ISBN
978-3-319-56575-0
Edition Number
1
Number of Pages
VI, 246
Number of Illustrations and Tables
9 b/w illustrations
Topics