| Fiction which deals with the theories of the social sciences has the ability to overcome a problem endemic to scientific model-building; namely, the chasm between subjective experience and its meaning, expressed in systems of symbols. While scientific theories cannot maintain their integrity if they include elements of fiction, fiction can embody scientific models. Works of science-fiction risk a lack of emotional appeal, however, when the details of scientific models take precedence over their significance to characters.;This thesis includes an original science-fiction novella entitled "The Hunted" and accompanying commentary which illustrates how anthropological fiction can use characterization, setting, and conflict to build effective inter-subjective models. |
