Worlds, Times, and Lives: Philosophy Through Science Fiction

Harvard FAS

In this course, we will look through the lens of science fiction to examine modern and classic philosophical issues, from the possibility of time travel, the multiverse, or simulated reality, to the problem of free will, personal identity, and artificial sentience. Through thinking about other worlds, times, and human and non-human lives, we will be asking metaphysical as well as epistemological and ethical questions—about what is real or possible as well as what is knowable and valuable—and…