This book is inspired by the author’s work as part of a major international and interdisciplinary research group at the University of Konstanz, Germany: “What If—On the Meaning, Relevance, and Epistemology of Counterfactual Claims and Thought Experiments.” Having contributed to great discoveries, such as those by Galileo and Einstein, thought experiments are especially topical in the twenty-first century, since this is a concept that bridges the gap between the arts and the sciences, promoting interdisciplinary innovation. To study thought experiments in literature, it is imperative to examine relevant texts closely: this has rarely been done to date and this is precisely what this book does as a pilot study focusing on selected works of philosophy and literature. Specifically, thought experiments by Thomas Malthus are analyzed side by side with short stories and novels by Vladimir Odoevsky and Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Alexander Bogdanov and Aleksei Tolstoy, Alexander Chaianov and Nina Berberova.
Table of Content
Introduction
Thomas Malthus, the Problem of Population, and Counterfactual Thought Experiments: A Concise Overview
Thought Experiments in Vladimir Odoevsky’s Russian Nights (1844)
Thomas Malthus and Nikolai Chernyshevsky: Struggle for Existence or Mutual Help? Utopian Dreams in What Is to Be Done? (1863)
Revolution on Earth and Mars: Alexander Bogdanov’s Red Star (1908) and Aleksei Tolstoy’s Aelita (1923)
A Peasant Utopia: Alexander Chaianov’s My Brother Aleksei’s Journey (1920)
Overpopulation in Nina Berberova’s Short Story “In Memory of Schliemann” (1958), in the Context of Malthusian Theory
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Natasha Grigorian is a Research Associate at the University of Konstanz and a Comparative Literature scholar educated at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris-Sorbonne. In 2007-2010, she was the Rutherford Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She completed her BA (Hons) in Modern Languages and her DPhil at Magdalen College, Oxford.
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