2014-2015 Academic Catalog

Apr 18, 2024

2014-2015 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENG 233 - Science Fiction and the Mind of the Other

This course combines literary and philosophical inquiries to study the ways in which the mind of the Other is represented in science fiction. Science fiction’s preoccupation with alienness, particularly in the subgenres of alien encounter and artificial human narratives, provides a rich ground for examining the cognitive tools we use to construct the un-human or subhuman Other in relation to the Self. The following questions will guide our reading of the fiction: Why is the mind so often seen as the basis of personhood? How do we ascertain the nature and capacities of the Other’s mind? How do we “test” for such capacities? What epistemological and metaphysical assumptions inform such tests, and who has the authority to devise them? And what are the ethical implications of granting social, biological, or legal personhood to the Other based on such evaluative criteria?

A Higgins School of Humanities Interdisciplinary Seminar.

Prerequisites: Permission only; Not open to first-year students

Anticipated Terms Offered: Every other year