Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? by D. E. Wittkower

Author:D. E. Wittkower [Wittkower, D. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Popular Culture, Philosophy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Literary Criticism, Essays, General, Short Stories
ISBN: 9780812697346
Google: 70ITuCtlnc0C
Amazon: B005LXC91Y
Publisher: Open Court
Published: 2011-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

16

The Blob Necessitates

MATTHEW McCALL

What the hell is VALIS about? Well, for one thing, it’s about the fuzzy line between delusions, reality, and psychological wellbeing—Horselover Fat, Dick’s author surrogate, suffers from a series of traumatic events and mental breakdowns all the while receiving metaphysical revelations from a pink beam.

In the midst of such mayhem Dick also manages to provide us with an unnerving insight into the suicidal mind, a mindset that Dick frequently suffered through during the later years of his life. On a deeper level, it’s about the interplay between metaphysics and emotions, arguably the signature theme of Dick’s career.

Dick is on record as saying “Of all the metaphysical systems in philosophy I feel the greatest affinity for that of Spinoza, with his dictum, “Deus sive substantia sive natura”; to me this sums up everything (viz: “God i.e. reality i.e. nature.”)” So it’s no surprise that the world of VALIS has much in common with the metaphysics of Baruch Spinoza, one of the seventeenth century’s most prominent philosophers. What may be of some surprise, though, is that Spinoza can save Fat from his turmoil, for Fat’s metaphysics has Spinoza-like implications that supply the groundwork for his path toward emotional liberation. And this path begins with that pink beam, and with blobs.

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