A Case of Conscience
E825832
A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores theological and ethical dilemmas arising from human contact with an alien civilization.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Case of Conscience canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9866554 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Case of Conscience Context triple: [James Blish, notableWork, A Case of Conscience]
-
A.
The Triumph of Justice
The Triumph of Justice is a Baroque-era religious and allegorical painting by French artist Jean Jouvenet, exemplifying his dramatic composition and expressive style.
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B.
The Awakening Conscience
The Awakening Conscience is an 1853 oil painting by William Holman Hunt that exemplifies Pre-Raphaelite moral realism, depicting a kept woman’s sudden moment of spiritual and moral realization.
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C.
Conseil de Conscience
The Conseil de Conscience was a specialized advisory body of the French royal government under the Ancien Régime, focused on matters of religion, ecclesiastical policy, and the king’s moral and spiritual obligations.
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D.
A Discourse of Conscience
A Discourse of Conscience is a theological treatise by the Puritan divine William Perkins that explores the nature, operations, and spiritual significance of conscience in Christian life.
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E.
Contemplation of Justice
Contemplation of Justice is a prominent allegorical marble statue symbolizing justice that stands at the entrance of the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Case of Conscience Target entity description: A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores theological and ethical dilemmas arising from human contact with an alien civilization.
-
A.
The Triumph of Justice
The Triumph of Justice is a Baroque-era religious and allegorical painting by French artist Jean Jouvenet, exemplifying his dramatic composition and expressive style.
-
B.
The Awakening Conscience
The Awakening Conscience is an 1853 oil painting by William Holman Hunt that exemplifies Pre-Raphaelite moral realism, depicting a kept woman’s sudden moment of spiritual and moral realization.
-
C.
Conseil de Conscience
The Conseil de Conscience was a specialized advisory body of the French royal government under the Ancien Régime, focused on matters of religion, ecclesiastical policy, and the king’s moral and spiritual obligations.
-
D.
A Discourse of Conscience
A Discourse of Conscience is a theological treatise by the Puritan divine William Perkins that explores the nature, operations, and spiritual significance of conscience in Christian life.
-
E.
Contemplation of Justice
Contemplation of Justice is a prominent allegorical marble statue symbolizing justice that stands at the entrance of the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
novel
ⓘ
science fiction novel ⓘ |
| alienSpecies | Lithians ⓘ |
| author | James Blish ⓘ |
| awarded | Hugo Award for Best Novel ⓘ |
| awardYear |
1959 Hugo Award for Best Novel
ⓘ
linked to:
Hugo Award for Best Novel
|
| basedOn | earlier novella version of A Case of Conscience ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
Jesuit moral theology
ⓘ
conflict between science and religion ⓘ ethical dilemmas ⓘ human contact with alien civilization ⓘ original sin ⓘ theological dilemmas ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| coverArtist | Richard Powers ⓘ |
| criticalReception | considered a classic of science fiction ⓘ |
| expandedTo | novel ⓘ |
| firstPublicationForm | novella ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophical fiction
ⓘ
science fiction ⓘ theological science fiction ⓘ |
| hasSequel |
Black Easter
ⓘ
Doctor Mirabilis ⓘ The Day After Judgment ⓘ |
| includedIn | lists of essential science fiction novels ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Catholic theology
ⓘ
Jesuit intellectual tradition ⓘ
linked to:
Jesuit scholastics
|
| language | English ⓘ |
| mediaType | print ⓘ |
| nominatedFor |
Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella
ⓘ
linked to:
Retro-Hugo Award
|
| notableFor |
exploration of moral philosophy in a science fiction context
ⓘ
integration of theology and science fiction ⓘ |
| partOf | James Blish bibliography ⓘ |
| partOneSetting | Lithia ⓘ |
| partTwoSetting | Earth ⓘ |
| plotElement |
debate over whether alien society is demonic or innocent
ⓘ
evaluation of alien world for human contact ⓘ |
| positionInSeries | first volume ⓘ |
| protagonist | Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez ⓘ |
| protagonistOccupation |
Jesuit priest
ⓘ
biologist ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1958 ⓘ |
| publisher | Ballantine Books ⓘ |
| series | After Such Knowledge ⓘ |
| setting | planet Lithia ⓘ |
| structure | two-part novel ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
ethics of colonization
ⓘ
free will and predestination ⓘ nature of evil ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A Case of Conscience Description of subject: A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores theological and ethical dilemmas arising from human contact with an alien civilization.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.