In this book, Stephen R. L. Clark, a philosopher with a lifelong "addiction" to science fiction, explores G. K. Chesterton's ideas and arguments in their historical context and evaluates them philosophically. He addresses Chesterton's sense that the way things are is not how they must have been or need be in the future and his willingness to face up to the apparent effects of the nihilism he detected in the science and politics of his day.
Clark offers a detailed study of some of Chesterton's works that have been identified by science fiction writers and critics as seminal influences. He attempts to deal with some of Chesterton's theories that have been found offensive or "positively wicked" by later writers and critics, including his arguments against female suffrage and in praise of war, his medievalist leanings, and his contemptuous rejection of the Darwinian evolutionary theory.
Stephen R. L. Clark is a professor of philosophy and Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool, England. He received his D Phil from Oxford in 1973. Dr. Clark served as chief editor at the Journal of Applied Philosophy for eleven years and is now a member of its editorial board, as well as serving on the boards of Religious Studies and the Cambridge University Press series New Studies in Christian Ethics. Well-known for his interest in both religion and science fiction, he has lectured widely in the U.S. and the U.K. He has authored more than sixty scholarly articles, contributed chapters to seventy-five books, edited one book, and written fourteen others, including The Mysteries of Religion, Civil Peace and Sacred Order, How to Live Forever, Animals and their Moral Standing, and Biology and Christian Ethics. His current main work is on the philosopher Plotinus's ethics and psychology.
Introduction / 3
Part I: What’s Wrong with Science Fiction? / 9
1. The Case against Science Fiction / 11
2. In Defense of Science Fiction / 18
Part II: The Texts / 39
3. The Napoleon of Notting Hill / 41
4. The Man Who Was Thursday / 50
5. The Ball and the Cross / 55
6. The Flying Inn / 65
7. The Distributist Rebellion / 73
8. The Return of Don Quixote / 76
Part III: The Themes / 83
9. Nationalists and Jews / 85
10. Women and Men / 97
11. Medievalism, War, and Men’s Ideals / 104
12. Distributism and Anarchy / 115
13. Darwinism, Scientific and Social / 124
14. Animals and the Royal Animal / 144
15. Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Virtue / 161
16. Miracles and Religion / 174
Conclusion: Thinking Backward / 187
Notes / 201
Index / 241
