ABSTRACT
In seeking to emphasise practical philosophy this volume follows in a long tradition of bridge building between theory and practice (or, alternatively, between philosophy and politics (Arendt 1990)). In this chapter, we argue that science fiction can be a potent means of practicalising philosophy through its ability to link the abstraction of theory and the messiness of practice. Science fiction sheds light on theory by providing an ideal-typical setting through which theory can be represented, clarified and developed. Conversely, it gives insight into the empirical world, while partly suspending the epistemological conundrum of the double hermeneutic that afflicts every empirical study in the social sciences.
