Phantastosophy
Why Philosophy and Speculative Fiction are One and the Same.
Hello, I wish you a great day full of fantastic experiences.
Last time I announced my Conviction that the fantastic is the same as philosophy …
… a bold claim, isn’t it? But yes, that’s the way it is: The Fantastic equals philosophy thus creating phantastosophy1. But isn’t that also a contradiction? The literal translation of philosophy is “love of wisdom”. The Fantastic on the other hand revolves around the impossible, as explained in episode one and episode two of this Substack. While this might not be a clear-cut contradiction, like the juxtaposition of ‘real’ and ‘unreal’, the terms impossible and wisdom still seem to be somehow incompatible.
But they are not!
Fantastic = Philosophy = Phantastosophy
The love of or friendship shown to wisdom in philosophy refers not only to factual knowledge, but also to the process of acquiring knowledge and the conditions under which it takes place. Metaphors and speculation often form part of this process, and metaphors are the language of the Fantastic.
“What if...?” – is the fundamental question of all fantastic literature. Depending on the question, the answers can be quite philosophical. For example, a story might ask how you would cope if you are exposed to a fantastically exaggerated situation whose outcome might have eternal consequences? In Fantasy, the soul is real, yet this immortal part of you comes under threat by otherworldly forces. So what do you do? Or take a Science Fiction movie depicting a situation where genocide seems inevitable. Or a Horror story might show that fighting the monster justifies all means... or does it?
Metaphors have been part of philosophers’ toolkits since the beginning of systematic, rule-based thinking. Most of you are probably familiar with Plato’s allegory of the cave, which he used to illustrate his argument about the nature of reality. Or you have come across other metaphors of his. But let’s go back to his cave. Using the image of a dimly lit cavern, Plato vividly demonstrates that one can never be certain of one’s knowledge or senses under any circumstances. What is real? This is a question often also asked in Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy. For example, consider the magnificent novel “Caverns of Socrates” by Dennis L. McKiernan, which combines Science Fiction and Fantasy and even uses Plato’s metaphor in its title. (I consider the 3.83 rating on Goodreads to be massively underrated.)
Philosophy – a Process
Philosophy is not only about presenting facts; it is also about transparently attempting to find them. Philosophical questions are a process because facts reached through thinking are based on well-founded assumptions. These assumptions are presented as pros and cons, i.e. in a dialectical process, which then points the way to intersubjectively valid, albeit usually provisional, facts. However, this kind of trial-and-error thinking is the Fantastic’s supreme discipline, which consists of ‘what if’ considerations.
Speculation, its original meaning is “to look out”, is a form of thinking that goes beyond established knowledge and considers different scenarios and possibilities. In the Fantastic – which is also called speculative fiction by the way – these scenarios and possibilities can be expanded indefinitely because the genre is not bound by the limits of physical reality or established world knowledge. This enables the Fantastic to explore all conceivable avenues of philosophical enquiry. Typically, it will not arrive at intersubjectively valid answers, nor will it often find facts. However, it does point to solutions – especially when you regard several contradictory works on a certain topic – and puts these solutions up for discussion. Just because those solutions originate from unreal contexts does not mean they cannot be applied to real-life situations. Thus, the Fantastic plays a significant role in the work of philosophy, becoming phantastosophy. The “Handlexikon zur Wissenschaftstheorie” (Handbook of Scientific Theory) explicitly calls on philosophers to observe the formal rules of thought, the most important of which is the transparency of the thought process. But going from that point onward, one should “engage with novel ideas” (Seiffert 258, my translation). “Novel ideas!” – that’s the home turf of the Fantastic.
Another point at which philosophy and the Fantastic are similar is with regard to their dangerousness. They are dangerous for entrenched thinking and traditional structures, and thus for established worldviews and political systems. Thanks to their experimental approach, philosophy and the Fantastic are constantly coming up with new ideas that challenge old certainties. In the fifth volume of his Dune cycle, Frank Herbert states that ‘philosophy is always dangerous because it promotes the creation of new ideas’ (475). ‘New ideas’ – again – are precisely what the Fantastic produces with its every new work of art. So it’s no wonder that those in power often persecute writers and other creators of the Fantastic first after their power grabs.
However, philosophy is foremost about thinking through what moves your thoughts and emotions to understand them and use the results of your thought process to further your life and the lives of others. That is exactly the intention of fantastic literature and art; an equation which amounts to: the Fantastic = Philosophy = Phantastosophy.
The next instalment with some “Thoughts on Genres” will be published in two parts in approximately two weeks and serve as an introduction to a small collection of Substacks on definitions of the most important Subgenres of the Fantastic.
Stay with me, it’ll be worthwhile, yours truly 😀
Literature:
Frank Herbert: *Heretics of Dune*. New York: Ace. 2019.
Le Guin, Ursula K.: *The Language of the Night.* New York: St. Martin’s Press. 1979.
McKiernan, Dennis L.: Caverns of Socrates. New York: ROC.1996.
Helmut Seiffert: “Philosophie”. In: H. Seiffert, G. Radnitzky (Hrsg.): *Handlexikon zur Wissenschaftstheorie*. München: Ehrenwirth. 1989. 255-262.
I have taken the liberty of coining the term ‘phantastosophy’. It is a neologism, at least insofar as I cannot find the term anywhere in literature or on the internet. The phantasophy developed by Maurice Baskin is a “magical colour surrealism” that is not related to phantastophy or the explanations in my text.