Phi Fic means Philosophical Fiction. Each episode, we have a candid dicussion on a heady work of of fiction, full of SPOILERS. Join host Nathan Hanks and readers Cezary Baraniecki, Daniel St. Pierre, Laura Davis, and Mary Claire, plus the occasional guest.
Podcast (phi-fi-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:49 — 76.9MB)
“Utopia means Nowhere.”
Welcome to Erehwon by Samuel Butler, wisely chosen by Daniel for this month’s read. We all agreed that we enjoyed our conversation about it even more than the actual reading experience.
Is there not a molecular action to thinking, a dynamical theory of the passions…should we not ask what levers a man is made of rather than what is his temperament…?
Laura just wasn’t buying the narrator so Daniel did his best to ease her distrust by clarifying the force of Butler’s goal in taking down English society’s norms. Nathan responds by reminding us of that cause-and-effect balance on our lives. Cezary fears he may be too thick to get it, as Butler assigns consciousness to machines, and Mary questions the Erewhonian practice of punishment for physical ailments. Join us as we work our way through this remarkable, at times prophetic, novel.
“Thank you, ghost babies!”
And thanks to Christopher Nolen for our music.
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