Abstract

This paper argues the centrality of dialectical thought procedures through an examination of the American science-fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson is regarded as one of the best living science-fiction writer working today, winning numerous science-fiction awards and honours, among them the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and John W. Campbell Memorial Award. In the first two decades of the new century he has already produced nine novels including The Science in the Capital Trilogy (2002-2007), Galileo's Dream (2009), 2312 (2012), Shaman (2013), Aurora (2015), and New York: 2140 (2017).

It is my argument here that both Robinson and Marx feature a specific kind of speculative problem solving distinct from other traditions of philosophical enquiry and science-fiction writing. They approach a problem in a markedly similar way: enumerating its elements, its ironies, contradictions, and its complexities; confronting other theories and exploring their antimonies, before turning the problem into a solution which becomes a starting point for new research. Offering a reading of the Mars Trilogy (1993-1996) and New York: 2140, the paper explores the relationship between dialectics, literature, and science.