Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) is the giant
imagination behind so much recent popular culture--both movies directly
based on his writings, such as Blade Runner (based on the novel Do
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report,
and The Adjustment Bureau plus cult favorites such as A Scanner
Darkly, Imposter, Next, Screamers, and Paycheck and works
revealing his powerful influence, such as The Matrix and Inception.
With the much anticipated forthcoming publication in 2011 of volume 1 of
Exegesis, his journal of spiritual visions and paranoic
investigations, Dick is fast becoming a major influence in the world of
popular spirituality and occult thinking.
In Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Who Adjusts the Adjustment Bureau?,
twenty Dick fans and professional thinkers confront the fascinating and
frightening ideas raised by Dick's mind-blowing fantasies. Is there an
alien world behind the everyday reality we experience? If androids can
pass as human, should they be given the same consideration as humans? Do
psychotics have insights into a mystical reality? Would knowledge of the
future free us or enslave us? This volume will also include Dick's short
story "Adjustment Team," on which The Adjustment Bureau is based.
Philip K. Dick and Philosophy explores the ideas of Philip K. Dick in
the same way that he did: with an earnest desire to understand the truth
of the world, but without falsely equating earnestness with a dry
seriousness. Dick's work was replete with whimsical and absurdist
presentations of the greatest challenges to reason and to
humanity--paradox, futility, paranoia, and failure--and even at his
darkest times he was able to keep some perspective and humor, as for
example in choosing to name himself 'Horselover Fat' in VALIS at the
same time as he relates his personal religious epiphanies, crises, and
delusions. With the same earnest whimsy, we approach Philip K. Dick as a
philosopher like ourselves--one who wrote almost entirely in
thought-experiments and semi-fictional world-building, but who engaged
with many of the greatest questions of philosophy throughout the
Euro-American tradition.
Philip K. Dick and Philosophy has much to offer for both serious fans
who have read many of his novels and stories, and for those who may have
just recently learned his name, and realized that his work has been the
inspiration for several well-known and thought-provoking films. Most
chapters start with one or more of the movies based on Dick's writing.
From here, the authors delve deeper into the issues by bringing in
philosophers' perspectives and by bringing in Dick's written work. The
book invites the reader with a casual familiarity with Dick to get to
know his work, and invites the reader with little familiarity with
philosophy to learn more. At the same time, we have new perspectives and
challenging connections and interpretations for even the most hard-core
Dick fans, even though we never speak to "insiders" only.
To maximize public interest, the book prominently addresses the most
widely-known films, as well as those with the most significant fan
followings: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A
Scanner Darkly, and The Adjustment Bureau. Along with these "big
five" films, a few chapters address his last novels, especially VALIS,
which have a significant cult following of their own. There are also
chapters which address short stories and novels which are currently
planned for adaptation: Radio Free Albemuth (film completed, awaiting
distribution), The Man in the High Castle (in development by Ridley
Scott for BBC mini-series), and "King of the Elves" (Disney, planned for
release in 2012)
