All things Philosophical. discussion

This works in exactly the same way as Science Fiction does in terms of widening the scope for an author to make a point. "The further away from the real world one can get, the more one can say about it."

I do think however that it works in a somewhat different way at the same time. Science fiction is often used to critique ethical issues with science in real life more often. For instance abortion, euthanasia, cloning and so on. Those issues are rarely dealt with in fantasy. Fantasy does however deal with more emotional, spiritual or moral issues such as what it is to be human, religion, what is valuable, good versus evil and ideas such as sacrifice. Both often can draw from events when they are written such as 1984 drawing on Communism and Lord of the Rings referencing The World Wars. You do find however I think greater reference to scientific related issues in sci-fi and spiritual, emotional or mythical issues in fantasy.

Sorry...To clarify I meant that this thread worked the same as the Science Fiction one and that the principle of using a different reality to make a point about this one is shared. The specific issues are indeed different. This is why they are separate threads in the first place.

Sorry I misinterpreted. One major part of communication is interpretation by the reader/listener.

Well I didn't use the word thread even once so, you know, was not clear.

Jamie...If you want to make a thread for any of these specific topics, feel free. They are interestingly fringe in some of the examples.