“If some people read my fiction and see it as fundamentally about philosophical ideas, what it probably means is that these are pieces where the characters are not as alive and interesting as I meant them to be.” PeopleIfsMeanIdeasCharacterInterestingFictionPiecesAlivePhilosophical Author:David Foster Wallace
“I'm not a sociologist, and the novel has often concerned itself with sociology. It's one of the generating forces that's made fiction interesting to people. But that's not my concern. I'm interested in psychology. And also certain philosophical questions about the world.” PeopleWorldMadeCertainForceInterestingFictionNovelPsychologyConcernConcernedPhilosophicalSociologySociologistsPhilosophical Questions Author:Jonathan Lethem
“I use biography, I use literary connections (as with Platen - this seems to me extremely helpful for appreciating the nuances of Mann's and Aschenbach's sexuality), I use philosophical sources (but not in the way many Mann critics do, where the philosophical theses and concepts seem to be counters to be pushed around rather than ideas to be probed), and I use juxtapositions with other literary works (including Mann's other fiction) and with works of music.” WayIdeasUseSeemsFictionSourceConceptsAppreciateConnectionsPhilosophicalCriticsIncludingSexualityHelpfulBiographiesNuanceThesisJuxtapositionLiterary Works Author:Philip Kitcher
“Whiteness itself is artifice, is fiction, is a construction, is narrative, is myth. And I seek to deconstruct all of that, to challenge the accretion, the intellectual accretion, the philosophical secretion that generates within the edifice of white supremacy that allows people easy escape, and egress. And I'm saying, "No, you can't leave now. You cannot afford to not know what I'm talking about, because you gotta be held accountable."” PeopleKnowsEasyChallengesWhiteFictionTalkingIntellectualPhilosophicalMythNarrativeConstructionWhite SupremacySaying NoSupremacyWhitenessArtificeEdifice Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“...if there is a widely shared concept of intentional action... a philosophical analysis of intentional action that is wholly unconstrained by that concept runs the risk of having nothing more than a philosophical fiction as its subject matter.” IfsMatterRunningActionFictionRiskSubjectsConceptsPhilosophicalAnalysisSubject Matter Author:Alfred Mele
“Science fiction is very well suited to asking philosophical questions; questions about the nature of reality, what it means to be human, how do we know the things that we think we know.” ThinkingKnowsHumansWellsMeanRealityFictionPhilosophicalAskingScience FictionWhat It Means To Be HumanPhilosophical Questions Author:Ted Chiang
“The future. Space travel, or cosmology. Alternate universes. Time travel. Robots. Marvelous inventions. Immortality. Catastrophes. Aliens. Superman. Other dimensions. Inner space, or the psyche. These are the ideas that are essential to science fiction. The phenomena change, the basic ideas do not. These ideas are the same philosophical concepts that have intrigued mankind throughout history.” IdeasUniverseSpaceFictionMankindEssentialsConceptsPhilosophicalScience FictionInventionAliensImmortalityDimensionsTime TravelMarvelousCatastropheRobotsCosmologyIntriguedSpace Travel Author:Kate Wilhelm
“Some major writers have a huge impact, like Ayn Rand, who to my mind is a lousy fiction writer because her writing has no compassion and virtually no humor. She has a philosophical and economical message that she is passing off as fiction, but it really isn't fiction at all.” WritingMindHumorFictionCompassionHugeMajorsMessagesPhilosophicalImpactPassingPassingsFiction WritersNo Compassion Author:Theodore Sturgeon