Futures as Thought Experiments: A Interdisciplinary Mapping Review of Science Fiction and the Literature of Ideas
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article presents a narrative review of Science Fiction and the Literature of Ideas in the context of Literature. The literature on this topic has expanded substantially over recent decades, yet it remains fragmented across subfields, methods, and national research traditions. Drawing on an interpretive synthesis of representative contributions, the review reconstructs the historical development of the area, examines the conceptual foundations and definitional disputes that organize its debates, and maps the contemporary landscape of research, including the methodological shift toward data-intensive approaches and the institutional pressures that shape publication practice. Particular attention is given to the role of science fiction and speculative as organizing themes, and to the conditions under which findings from different research traditions can be brought into productive comparison. The review identifies three synthetic conclusions: the literature is cumulatively strong but organizationally weak; methodological pluralism is better understood as a resource than as a defect; and the growing practical salience of the topic raises the stakes of its unresolved conceptual questions. An agenda for future work is proposed, emphasizing integrative research designs, transparent synthesis practices, and the protection of definitional and infrastructural work on which cumulative progress depends. The article is intended as both a reference map for newcomers and a provocation for specialists in Literature.
Authors: Revista, Zen, LITERATURE, 10
Institution: Faculdades Guarulhos
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7207872676