The Willing & The Reluctant: Exploring Stoicism Through Science Fiction Short Stories

This is a practice-based research project with an 80/20 creative/critical split. The creative element comprises a collection of science fiction short stories that draw inspiration from science fiction classics, such as Star Wars (1977–); the critical element elucidates how these stories contribute to knowledge through thinking about stoicism. This philosophy is understood by a historicised typology unique to this work: philosophic stoicism, imperialist stoicism, and neoliberal capitalist stoicism. Through thinking through the potentialities, tensions, and contradictions of each of these periods of stoic thought, the short stories expand the genre boundaries of science fiction.

The project critiques contemporary stoicism, termed neoliberal capitalist stoicism, through exploring the relationships that exist between the historical periods of stoicism. One of the primary problems that emerged from my exploration of neoliberal capitalist stoicism is its loss of community through the lack of importance placed on cosmopolitanism, a key principle in ancient, philosophic stoicism. Stoicism has become synonymous with the idea of suppressed emotions, when in fact it can and should be a uniting force between peoples.

The contribution to knowledge in this research project is four-fold: (i) through the organisation of stoicism into a historicised typology; (ii) through an understanding of stoicism’s development and evolution, alongside an understanding of science fiction, particularly its pre-Victorian roots; (iii) through an insight into the inherent contradictions of stoicism, particularly regarding the three themes of endurance (the limits of stoicism and resilience and whether it inevitably transmutes into callousness), evolution (where stoicism began and how it has changed), and cosmopolitanism (whether stoicism is tied to imperialism, and whether a sense of community-mindedness can correct the issues of neoliberal capitalist stoicism); and in doing so, it (iv) imagines a corrective to the neoliberalisation of Star Wars (1977–).