Ted Chiang’s Counterphysical Stories and History of Science Pedagogy

Counterfactual history constitutes a prominent subgenre of speculative fiction. Nevertheless, though diverging from actual historical events, such works tend to otherwise be highly realistic. Other speculative fiction goes much further, creating not only an alternative timeline but an alternate reality governed by different physical laws. This chapter coins the term “counterphysical” to describe literature that plays with the very laws of physics or nature, but remains within a rules-based, science-inspired paradigm. Examining two counterphysical stories by Ted Chiang, “Seventy-Two Letters” (2000) and “Omphalos” (2019), it argues that such works can serve as a useful tool for teaching the history of science. Counterphysical fiction can help train students to suspend their present-day understanding of science in order to comprehend the worldview and mindset of historical scientists.