Abductive empiricism: the significance of substance in Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary
In a world of matter and meaning, philosophical debates revolve around metaphysical connections among entities. Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Peirce see interconnectedness in a continuous process of becoming, Karen Barad explores the constant creation of entities through intra-action, and Erwin Schrӧdinger quantifies the connection between the quantum and the macroscopic world. To add on to this discourse, I argue that ontological connections can be formed between any two static entities based on their shared quantitative data. It is pertinent to note that while this research draws inspiration from Whitehead, Peirce, and Barad, my approach differs significantly. In Whitehead and Peirce’s research, the foundation of connections between actual entities is based on processes, whereas I argue that connections between static entities can be derived from quantifiable information. Barad comes closer to this idea with their theory of deriving meaning from intra-active interconnectedness, but this research focuses more on discovering empirical data that confirms the antecedent ontological connection. Schrӧdinger’s cat experiment is most similar to my theory, but the former requires a little bit more clarification on the distinction between the application of quantum and classical mechanics for experimental purpose. This theory—tentatively termed “Abductive Empiricism”—would work best as a companion piece to other philosophical and literary theories, where the philosophical claims of the latter can be construed based on the metaphysical connection of the former. A theory of abductive empiricism remedies deficits in similar research, and offers a much-needed marriage between science, philosophy, and literary studies. To this end I will utilize Andy Weir’s science fiction novel Project Hail Mary as a case study for this theory, as it offers a wealth of empirical data that serves to validate a variety of ontological connections.
Modern Literature, Philosophy of Language
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations