A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)
E825837
A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores profound theological and ethical questions through the story of a Jesuit priest confronting an alien civilization whose apparent moral perfection challenges his religious beliefs.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Case of Conscience (1953 novella) | 2 |
| A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel) canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9866570 — 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 (Hugo Award–winning novel) Context triple: [James Blish, notableWork, A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)]
-
A.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
A Canticle for Leibowitz is a classic post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Walter M. Miller Jr. that explores the cyclical nature of history, faith, and knowledge through a monastic order preserving remnants of human civilization.
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B.
Mother Night
Mother Night is a 1996 film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, following an American playwright turned Nazi propagandist as he grapples with guilt, identity, and moral ambiguity.
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C.
The Naked Sun
The Naked Sun is a science fiction mystery novel by Isaac Asimov featuring detective Elijah Baley investigating a murder on the sparsely populated, robot-dominated planet Solaria.
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D.
The Lathe of Heaven
The Lathe of Heaven is a science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin that explores the power of dreams to alter reality and the ethical dilemmas that arise from such control.
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E.
The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert that explores themes of social engineering, oppression, and survival on a harsh, isolated planet.
- 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 (Hugo Award–winning novel) Target entity description: A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores profound theological and ethical questions through the story of a Jesuit priest confronting an alien civilization whose apparent moral perfection challenges his religious beliefs.
-
A.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
A Canticle for Leibowitz is a classic post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Walter M. Miller Jr. that explores the cyclical nature of history, faith, and knowledge through a monastic order preserving remnants of human civilization.
-
B.
Mother Night
Mother Night is a 1996 film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, following an American playwright turned Nazi propagandist as he grapples with guilt, identity, and moral ambiguity.
-
C.
The Naked Sun
The Naked Sun is a science fiction mystery novel by Isaac Asimov featuring detective Elijah Baley investigating a murder on the sparsely populated, robot-dominated planet Solaria.
-
D.
The Lathe of Heaven
The Lathe of Heaven is a science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin that explores the power of dreams to alter reality and the ethical dilemmas that arise from such control.
-
E.
The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert that explores themes of social engineering, oppression, and survival on a harsh, isolated planet.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
novel
ⓘ
science fiction novel ⓘ |
| author | James Blish ⓘ |
| awardReceived | Hugo Award for Best Novel ⓘ |
| awardYear | 1959 ⓘ |
| basedOn | A Case of Conscience (1953 novella) ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
ethics of contact with alien civilizations
ⓘ
free will and predestination ⓘ the conflict between religion and science ⓘ the nature of sin and moral responsibility ⓘ the problem of evil ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticalReception | widely acclaimed as a classic of science fiction ⓘ |
| expandedFrom | A Case of Conscience (1953 novella) ⓘ |
| explores |
Catholic theology
ⓘ
Jesuit moral philosophy ⓘ colonialism and imperialism ⓘ cultural relativism ⓘ |
| featuresSpecies | Lithians ⓘ |
| firstPartSetting | Lithia ⓘ |
| firstPublicationYear | 1958 ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophical fiction
ⓘ
science fiction ⓘ theological science fiction ⓘ |
| hasISBN | 978-0-345-33310-0 ⓘ |
| includedIn | many lists of the greatest science fiction novels ⓘ |
| influenced | later religious science fiction ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Golden Age of Science Fiction ⓘ |
| mainCharacter | Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez ⓘ |
| narrativeStructure | two-part novel ⓘ |
| nominatedFor |
Retro Hugo Award for Best Novel
ⓘ
linked to:
Retro-Hugo Award
|
| notableFor |
depiction of a morally coherent alien society
ⓘ
integration of rigorous theology into science fiction ⓘ |
| originalFormat | paperback ⓘ |
| originalMedium | print ⓘ |
| partOfSeries | After Such Knowledge ⓘ |
| plotElement |
bringing an alien child to Earth
ⓘ
debate over whether an alien world is a satanic trap ⓘ first contact with an apparently sinless alien society ⓘ |
| protagonistOccupation |
Jesuit priest
ⓘ
biologist ⓘ |
| publisher | Ballantine Books ⓘ |
| secondPartSetting | Earth ⓘ |
| seriesNumber | 1 ⓘ |
| setting |
future Earth
ⓘ
planet Lithia ⓘ |
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 (Hugo Award–winning novel) Description of subject: A Case of Conscience is a classic science fiction novel by James Blish that explores profound theological and ethical questions through the story of a Jesuit priest confronting an alien civilization whose apparent moral perfection challenges his religious beliefs.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)
linked to: A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)
subject linked to:
A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)
linked to: A Case of Conscience (Hugo Award–winning novel)