Individual,Universe,Free Will-the Study Of Ted Chiang’s Science Fiction

Ted Chiang is an outstanding contemporary American writer of Chinese descent,His science fiction creations are notable for their fusion of scientific and philosophical speculation,among which free will is the focus of his thinking.In mainstream literature,there are many works containing the idea of free will,while science fiction extends the boundary of free will with rich imagination,and shows the dilemma or conflict of free will in many extreme situations,endowing free will with a wider horizon.In previous science fiction novels,free will demonstrated the spirit of individual struggle,The difference is that Ted Chiang’s science fiction attempts to show and respond to the real living situation of people in modern society who have freedom but not freedom through the writing of free will.The calm and restrained narrative contains strong humanistic care.This study is divided into four parts.The first part explains the possibility and value of the connection between science fiction and free will by going back to the development of the concept of free will.Excavating Ted Chiang’s view of free will and the uniqueness of his views from his past remarks.The second part explores the value function of free will at the individual level,explaining that the pursuit of "goodness" is the expression of free will for individuals following the logic of human nature.However,the tense relationship between science and humanities in the age of technology has led to the restriction of free will.The third part discusses the will of the universe in Ted Chiang’s science fiction from the perspective of the universe.It is precisely because of the various characteristics of the will of the universe that individuals can have free will and the pursuit of value.At the same time,free will has a contradictory attribute of the unity of opposites,which itself implies unfreedom.Therefore,science will not deny free will,and thinking about free will should return to the individual.Finally,analyze Ted Chiang’s science fiction theory of free will constructed from the individual to the universe.From this,it can be concluded that Ted Chiang’s writing about free will starts from the appearance that individuals pursue freedom but are not free,and extends to ontological thinking about free will in the universe,emphasizing the individual’s self-awareness and reflection on the real world has a unique value of science fiction theory.