Philosophical Explorations of Science Fiction
a Discovery Core Experience
This course may be taken as either a BCORE 107 (Social Sciences) or as a BCORE 104 (Arts & Humanities) course.
About This Course
While science fiction may seem to be about other worlds, most of it is really about us. In this class we’ll explore science fiction as a way to examine our own time and place. In the process, we’ll investigate various philosophical concepts like free will, time travel, artificial intelligence, knowledge, justice, and the meaning of life. The instructor has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a background in computer science and the performing arts, so students can expect to be part of engaging and entertaining group discussions about the Big Ideas that we’ll see in the sci-fi movies we’ll watch together and the sci-fi stories we’ll read. This course involves frequent creative writing exercises and students will author their own original science fiction short story as a final project. As a Discovery Core course, this class will also introduce students to some important parts of UWB life, like research in the library, use of various campus resources, interdisciplinary inquiry, and others. The class is meant to be a fun and intellectually stimulating class that’s also a great introduction to your new life at UWB.
Why Should I Take This Course?
It’ll be fun and we’ll read a bunch of science fiction stories and talk about them.
What Will I Study?
You’ll study a few different issues in philosophy: knowledge, ethics, philosophy of mind, AI, utopias & dystopias, nihilism and the meaning of life, etc.
Selected Texts & Films
We’ll read one long novel (I change it around from year to year, so I haven’t picked this year’s yet), and a bunch of short stories, including Escape From Spiderhead by George Saunders and Liking What You See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang, and many others. We’ll also read some philosophy. We’ll watch a few episodes of Black Mirror, and some movies like Her, Everything Everywhere All At Once, probably others.
- Escape From Spiderhead by George Saunders
- Liking What You See: A Documentary by Ted Chiang
- Her (Movie)
- Everything Everywhere All At Once (Movie)
- Black Mirror (Show)
Selected Projects & Activities
The final project involves writing a philosophically provocative science fiction short story.
Dr. Nixon (he/him/his)
School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences
Education
- B.A. Philosophy, University of Washington
- M.A. Philosophy, University of Washington
- Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Washington
Contact
Email: mitsuo@uw.edu
“I want to get the students to learn to love ideas. I want them to enjoy their philosophy classes as opposed to walking away thinking that philosophy is stuffy, boring, and totally divorced from anything in their own lives.”
Dr. Nixon