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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.
Author
Years
Notable Works and/or Themes
Augustine of Hippo
354-430
De Magistro
Halevi, Judah
1075-1141
The Kuzari
Abelard, Peter
1079-1142
Dialogue of a Philosopher with a Jew and a Christian
Ibn Tufail
1105-1185
Hayy ibn Yaqdhan: explores the limits of natural theology and the Islamic concept of fitra[1][2]
Machiavelli, Niccolò
1469–1527
The Mandrake
More, Thomas
1478-1535
Utopia: first unambiguous example of utopian and dystopian fiction.
Voltaire
1694-1778
Zadig
Micromegas
Candide
Johnson, Samuel
1709-1784
Rasselas
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
1712-1778
Julie, or the New Heloise
Diderot, Denis
1713–1784
Jacques the Fatalist
Sade, Marquis de
1740–1814
Atheism; Nihilism; Libertinism
Goethe
1749-1832
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
Jean Paul
1763–1825
Siebenkäs
Titan
Chateaubriand, François-René de
1768–1848
René
Hogg, James
1770-1835
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Hölderlin, Friedrich
1770–1843
Hyperion
Stendhal
1783-1842
The Red and the Black
Carlyle, Thomas
1795-1881
Sartor Resartus
Leopardi, Giacomo
1798-1837
Small Moral Works - Philosophical stories that were greatly enjoyed even by Arthur Schopenhauer.
Kierkegaard, Søren
1813-1855
Diary of a Seducer - A novel in the highly literary philosophical work Either/Or.
Turgenev, Ivan
1818-1883
Fathers and Sons
Dostoevsky, Fyodor
1821-1881
Existentialism
Crime and Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov
Notes from Underground
Chernyshevsky, Nikolay
1828-1889
Russian nihilism, Utopian socialism
What Is to Be Done?
Tolstoy, Leo
1828-1910
War and Peace
Resurrection
Pater, Walter
1839-1894
Marius the Epicurean
Nietzsche, Friedrich
1844-1900
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Well-known example of a modern philosophical novel.
Santayana, George
1863–1952
Unamuno, Miguel de
1864–1936
Pirandello, Luigi
1867–1936
Maxim Gorky
1868-1936
The Life of Klim Samgin
Proust, Marcel
1871-1922
In Search of Lost Time
Chesterton, G. K.
1874-1936
Mann, Thomas
1875-1955
The Magic Mountain
Hesse, Hermann
1877-1962
Siddhartha
Andrei Bely
1880-1934
Petersburg
Musil, Robert
1880-1942
The Man Without Qualities
Papini, Giovanni
1881–1956
Kafka, Franz
1883-1924
Existential Nihilism
The Trial
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand
1894-1961
Journey to the End of the Night
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.
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
Les Deux Étendards
Gombrowicz, Witold
1904-1969
Ferdydurke
Cosmos
Skinner, B. F.
1904-1990
Walden Two
Sartre, Jean-Paul
1905-1980
Existentialism
Nausea
No Exit - An existentialist play outlining Sartrean philosophy.
The Devil and the Good Lord - An existentialist play outlining Sartrean philosophy.
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
The Forbidden Forest
Beauvoir, Simone de
1908-1986
Existentialism; Feminism
Les Bouches inutiles [fr]
She Came to Stay
All Men are Mortal
The Woman Destroyed
Dazai, Osamu
1909-1948
No Longer Human
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
Invisible Man - Existentialism in America.
Schmidt, Arno
1914–1979
Percy, Walker
1916-1990
The Moviegoer - An existential novel outlining Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy.
Burgess, Anthony
1917-1993
A Clockwork Orange - A discussion of the role of free will in the context of the application of behaviorism's techniques.
Murdoch, Iris
1919-1999
Lispector, Clarice
1920-1977
The Hour of the Star
Dürrenmatt, Friedrich
1921-1990
Lem, Stanislaw
1921-2006
Mishima, Yukio
1925-1970
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea
Markson, David
1927-2010
Wittgenstein's Mistress - An experimental novel that demonstrates Wittgenstein's philosophy of language; stylistic similarities to Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Dick, Philip K.
1928-1982
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
A Scanner DarklyVALIS - 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
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Pirsig's Metaphysics of Quality
Guin, Ursula K. Le
1929-2018
Anarchism; Feminism; Socialism; Daoism
Kundera, Milan
1929-2023
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Wilson, Colin
1931–2013
The Mind Parasites
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-
Speedboat
Atwood, Margaret
1939-
The Handmaid's Tale - Dystopian feminist novel
Strauss, Botho
1944-
The Young Man
Bieri, Peter
1944-2023
Bruckner, Pascal
1948-
Gaarder, Jostein
1952-
Sophie's World
Sant, Gus Van
1952-
Pink - Absurdism
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-
Anathem - Includes the philosophical debate between Platonic realism and nominalism.
Wallace, David Foster
1962-2008
Infinite Jest - Criticizes Poststructuralism/Postmodernism; influenced by Wittgenstein & Existentialism; introduces Metamodernism/Post-postmodernism.
Yudkowsky, Eliezer
1979-
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Explores cognitive science, philosophy, rationalism, the scientific method
Rebecca Goldstein
1983-
Atheism; Feminism
Dukaj, Jacek
1997-
Other Songs
^Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl's Influence on Modern Western Thought, Lexington Books, ISBN 0-7391-1989-3.
^Jon Mcginnis, Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources, p. 284, Hackett Publishing Company, ISBN 0-87220-871-0.
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