简介：Cultureisbroadlyviewedasallthehumanactivitiesthatdefineusasaspecies.″Sturgeon'sLaw″(that90%ofeverythingisinferior)isintroducedtodefendthestudyoffiction,andsciencefictioninparticular,inhighereducationasawayofunderstandingourselvesbetter,andperhapsimprovingtheworldthroughtheincreasedunderstandingoftomorrow'sleaders.Severalwaysofreadingparticularworksofsciencefictionareexamined,likeprovidinghistoricalcontextsforreaders,closereadingandstructuralanalysis,andapplicationoftheoriesbasedonparticularideologiesorfromotherdisciplinesinthesocialandpoliticalsciences(suchasfeministtheory,Marxisttheory,psychologicaltheory,etc.).Aconclusionisdrawnthatforliteraryanalysis,ahybridmethodology,onedevisedindividuallyforeachtext,worksbest.

简介：Thispaperwilldiscussthedifferencebetweengenrefictionandmainstreamfiction,thedifferencebetweensciencefictionandotherfieldsofgenrefiction,andinparticular,thephilosophicaluseofsciencefictioninoursearchforabetterworld.Allgenresusedtobecalled″romance″todistinguishthemfrom″true″novels.TherewereargumentsaboutitinHawthorne'sTheHouseofSevenGablesandinaheatedexchangebetweenH.G.WellsandHenryJames.Iwilltalkaboutthisdifference.Allgenrefictionpaysattentiontotheexternalworld,butsciencefictionistheonlyoneofthemthatlooksforwardbybeinggroundedinthepresent.Issciencefictionreallyagenre?Therearesomedoubts.Sciencefictionisnotaboutscienceperse,butaboutthephilosophyofscience:thestudyoftheexternalworldanditsrelationtoman.Itisidealfor″thoughtexperiments.″Byexploringpossiblefutures,wecannotonlyexamineourpresentworld,butcanseewaysinwhichitcanbeimproved.Hence,sciencefictionisthesearchfor,ifnotutopia,thenatleastabetterworld.ThispaperwillalsodiscusstheideasofKimStanleyRobinson,UrsulaK.LeGuin,andothersintheirsearchforabetterfuture.