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Introduction: Ethics and Physics in Contemporary Plays

  • Jenni G. Halpin
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine book series (PLSM)

Abstract

The introductory chapter establishes the relationships among science, science drama, and the history of science through which the arguments of the ensuing chapters will proceed. I argue that recent physics plays make a return to the metaphysical concerns of the early-twentieth-century physicists who were developing quantum theory and relativity. Moreover, they do so while engaging in what Kirsten Shepherd-Barr has characterized as enaction of the science they discuss: producing dramatic forms that manifest scientific content. A concern throughout is the manner in which these enactions alter the ethical stakes for the characters’ decisions.

Keywords

Science play Cold war Ethics 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jenni G. Halpin
    • 1
  1. 1.Savannah State UniversitySavannahUSA

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