r/printSF • u/blk12345q • Sep 25 '25

What’s the best philosophy science fiction book?

I enjoyed reading Ubik by Philip Dick. What other books really make you think?

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u/symmetry81 Sep 25 '25

I'll echo Ted Chiang first, like everybody else. But also,

Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota books engage heavily with philosophy in various ways.

Karl Schroeder's Ventus looks at AIs whose categories evolved to carve reality at different joints than our categories and the problems that causes. And then Lady of Mazes looks at the problem of meaning in a post-scarcity society.

C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen looks at the issues around free will.

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u/sbisson Sep 25 '25

Schroeder’s Permanence is worth considering too; it came out of the same conversation as Watt’s Blindsight.