List of philosophical fiction authors

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This is a list of notable philosophical fiction authors and their works, in chronological order according to the author's year of birth.

AuthorYearsNotable Works and/or Themes
Augustine of Hippo 354-430
  • De Magistro
Halevi, Judah 1075-1141
Abelard, Peter 1079-1142
  • Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian
Ibn Tufail 1105-1185
Machiavelli, Niccolò 1469–1527
More, Thomas 1478-1535
Voltaire 1694-1778
Johnson, Samuel 1709-1784
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 1712-1778
Diderot, Denis 1713–1784
Sade, Marquis de 1740–1814

Atheism; Nihilism; Libertinism

Goethe 1749-1832
Jean Paul 1763–1825
Chateaubriand, François-René de 1768–1848
Hogg, James 1770-1835
Hölderlin, Friedrich 1770–1843
Stendhal 1783-1842
Carlyle, Thomas 1795-1881
Leopardi, Giacomo 1798-1837
Kierkegaard, Søren 1813-1855
Turgenev, Ivan 1818-1883
Dostoevsky, Fyodor 1821-1881 Existentialism
Chernyshevsky, Nikolay 1828-1889 Russian nihilism, Utopian socialism
Tolstoy, Leo 1828-1910
Pater, Walter 1839-1894
Nietzsche, Friedrich 1844-1900
Santayana, George 1863–1952
Unamuno, Miguel de 1864–1936
Pirandello, Luigi 1867–1936
Maxim Gorky 1868-1936
Proust, Marcel 1871-1922
Chesterton, G. K. 1874-1936
Mann, Thomas 1875-1955
Hesse, Hermann 1877-1962
Andrei Bely 1880-1934
Musil, Robert 1880-1942
Papini, Giovanni 1881–1956
Kafka, Franz 1883-1924 Existential Nihilism
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand 1894-1961
Huxley, Aldous 1894-1963
  • Brave New World - A critique on the conflict between the human element and animal nature of man as well as the manipulative use of psychological conditioning.
Jünger, Ernst 1895–1998
Lewis, C. S. 1898-1963
Borges, Jorge Luis 1899-1986 Philosophical idealism; Eternal recurrence; Eternalism
Platonov, Andrei 1899-1951
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de 1900-1944
Malraux, André 1901-1976
Orwell, George 1903-1950
  • Animal Farm - A fable on the process of communism represented through animals on a farm.
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four - A critique of totalitarianism as well as a discourse on the manipulative use of language.
Rebatet, Lucien 1903–1972
Gombrowicz, Witold 1904-1969
Skinner, B. F. 1904-1990
Sartre, Jean-Paul 1905-1980 Existentialism
Rand, Ayn 1905-1982 Objectivism
Beckett, Samuel 1906-1989 Absurdism; Quasi-quietism
  • Waiting for Godot: One of the most well-known philosophical plays of the twentieth century.
Eliade, Mircea 1907–1986
Beauvoir, Simone de 1908-1986 Existentialism; Feminism
  • The Woman Destroyed
Dazai, Osamu 1909-1948
Lima, José Lezama 1910-1976
  • Paradiso - Latin American Boom novel that explores desire in pre-revolution Cuba.
Camus, Albert 1913-1960 Absurdism
Ellison, Ralph 1913-1994
Schmidt, Arno 1914–1979
Percy, Walker 1916-1990
  • The Moviegoer - An existential novel outlining Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy.
Burgess, Anthony 1917-1993
Murdoch, Iris 1919-1999
Lispector, Clarice 1920-1977
Dürrenmatt, Friedrich 1921-1990
Lem, Stanislaw 1921-2006
Mishima, Yukio 1925-1970
Markson, David 1927-2010
Dick, Philip K. 1928-1982
  • A Scanner Darkly VALIS - A novel version of his longer non-fiction book
  • The Exegesis , outlining his intense interest in the nature of reality, metaphysics and religion.
Pirsig, Robert M. 1928-2017
Guin, Ursula K. Le 1929-2018 Anarchism; Feminism; Socialism; Daoism
Kundera, Milan 1929-2023
Wilson, Colin 1931–2013
Eco, Umberto 1932-2016 Semiotics
Gardner, John 1933-1982
  • Grendel - An exploration of various philosophical perspectives on finding meaning in the world, the power of literature and myth, and the nature of good and evil. The protagonist is a literary proxy for Jean-Paul Sartre.
Berger, Arthur Asa 1933-
  • Postmortem for a Postmodernist - A murder mystery that explores postmodernism.
Renata Adler 1938-
Atwood, Margaret 1939-
Strauss, Botho 1944-
Bieri, Peter 1944-2023
Bruckner, Pascal 1948-
Gaarder, Jostein 1952-
Sant, Gus Van 1952-
Shirley, John 1953-
  • The Other End - A novel about the global effects of an externally implemented planetary higher-consciousness, and an "alternative apocalypse", in gnostic-influenced metaphysics advocating Krishnamurtian/Gurdjieffian style awakening.
Alexis, André 1957-
  • Fifteen Dogs - Winner of the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, this novel explores faith, place, love, power and hatred through the eyes and experiences of fifteen dogs endowed with human intelligence.
Dantec, Maurice G. 1959-2016
Stephenson, Neal 1959-
Wallace, David Foster 1962-2008
Yudkowsky, Eliezer 1979-
Rebecca Goldstein 1983- Atheism; Feminism
Dukaj, Jacek 1997-

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References

  1. Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought, Lexington Books, ISBN   0-7391-1989-3.
  2. Jon Mcginnis, Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, p. 284, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN   0-87220-871-0.