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Definitions of fantasy vs science fiction
Jan. 29th, 2024 02:38 amI just read a guest editorial from Asimov's cover date march 2020 , and now I want to argue with it.
(I have been bouncing off reading the Asimov's from back then because I was feeling weird about the whole message from an alternate universe feel of people trying to write the future when they didnt Know)
Editorial is about a personal definition of Science Fiction vs Fantasy.
To David D Levine, Science Fiction is an Enlightenment way of thinking where "the universe is logical, predictable, and understandable, governed by rules that are impersonal and have no moral dimension"
whereas Fantasy "is based on a pre-Enlightenment worldview: the universe has a moral compass, and is governed by rules that, though they may be understandable, are not necessarily consistent, logical, or predictable in their application."
( Read more... )
(I have been bouncing off reading the Asimov's from back then because I was feeling weird about the whole message from an alternate universe feel of people trying to write the future when they didnt Know)
Editorial is about a personal definition of Science Fiction vs Fantasy.
To David D Levine, Science Fiction is an Enlightenment way of thinking where "the universe is logical, predictable, and understandable, governed by rules that are impersonal and have no moral dimension"
whereas Fantasy "is based on a pre-Enlightenment worldview: the universe has a moral compass, and is governed by rules that, though they may be understandable, are not necessarily consistent, logical, or predictable in their application."
( Read more... )