Dune: A Philosophical Companion
8 Essays to Help You Understand The Deep Philosophy, Theology, & Psychology of Frank Herbert's Dune
Here in this post you’ll find 8 essays to help you explore the deep ideas in Frank Herbert’s Dune. I’ll be going back through my Book Club essays to consolidate them in these Companion Posts with all the links for all essays for each book. This way you can have them all in one spot for easier access—I should have done something like this a while ago!
If you don’t know me, my name is Parker Settecase and I’m a student of philosophy and theology. I’ve got a Master’s in Philosophy and 2 more in theology and I love spreading philosophy far and wide. I lead a philosophical book club here on Substack and you can find all of my companion essays for the books we’ve read so far HERE but I am going through all collecting them all into Companion Posts with all the links for all the essays for each book so it’ll be much easier to find the one’s you need.
In my book club I come up with a reading plan for those who want to read philosophical books and then I write companion essays to help my audience get the most out of the books we read. We’ve been switching off between non-fiction philosophy books and fiction novels with philosophical themes. It’s been fantastic!
Dune is to science fiction as Lord of the Rings is to fantasy. It’s spectacular. But Frank Herbert slipped in a lot of esoteric philosophy, religious tropes, and protreptic gems that you might miss if you don’t know where to look. So, if you want help understanding and getting the most out of Dune, I can help you. Just grab a copy and follow along through the companion essays below. Here’s how: grab a copy of Dune then come back here and find the reading sections covered in each essay, then go and read that section of the book and come back to read the companion essay for that section. Then go to the second essay, find the section of the book that it covers and read it then come back and read the companion essay and repeat until you’re all the way through. Herbert didn’t use chapters so it’s actually pretty hard to break the book into manageable sections but I think I figured it out with the epigraphs (the quotes he uses in the start of each section). So find those sections and jump in.
I’ve changed the approach to the read alongs and made the essays for my paid subscribers. I’m currently working with my literary agent to secure a book deal based on these companion essays. I’m waiting on a contract right now! So hopefully in the next few days I’ll be under contract to flesh this companion out much more! But that’s another reason to be hiding these essays behind a pay wall.
My free subscribers can still follow along on schedule with us for our latest read-alongs and they can join us for the live Zoom/Substack discussions but if you want to read the companion essays then upgrade to a paid subscription and all this (and much more!) will be opened to you. It really is a win-win, I get to support my family as an independent scholar and you get to learn deep, ancient, and cutting-edge philosophy and theology as you read some of the best books out there!
The Dune Read-Along
Here are the philosophical companion essays I’ve written to help you get the most out of the novel:
If you want to go deeper in your philosophical education, check out my philosophical science fiction magazine (zine), Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines. I write science fiction and fantasy short stories with philosophical and theological themes at the heart of each, then I add companion essays after each to help you explore the themes deeper and to fill you in on the Easter eggs I dropped in as well. I also include my own essays on the philosophy of science fiction and fantasy and my own philosophical poems as well.
Check out my SFF magazine and my wise saying magazine on my Etsy shop through the button below:
i am going to read all of these essays once i get off work. thank you for this!
Looks like an interesting companion to me finally finishing the series. I was wondering if you've tackled or will tackle ecological criticism regarding Dune? It seems to be one of its strongest yet quietest themes in the book.