Secondly, fantasy as a set of art depicting/representing/describing the imaginary, would have to confront realism, on the one hand, which also reproduces reality and modernism and the avant-garde on the other, which more or less avoid using references, eluding to the more or less understandable (syntactic, semantic or pragmatic) performativity.
However, a critical review of the so-called realism shows that realism, in its full and strict sense not only did not and does not exist, but is generally impossible – because any images of reality would inevitably be imagined (at least to the extent where we distinguish one and the other); after all, this is indicated by the ability of art photography, which directly and almost immediately (literally photographically) reflects the reality, regardless of our perception of it. On the other hand, a careful study of the indirect features of reference removes the inflexibility of its contrast to performativity.
Thirdly, science fiction is in no way related to one form of art, embodied – along with literature and, say, painting – also in cinematography, theater, drawing, comic books, and perhaps even in sculpture.
And even in amusement parks and – necessarily – in computer games: if they can be classified as art, then to a very special, interactive sphere.
In addition, even literary science fiction can neither be classified as a genre, strictly speaking, because it brings together works of a variety of genres (and also of different lines – a novel, a story, a narrative…, space opera, alternative history, detective fiction…) nor as a destination because it can quite easily include different styles (cyberpunk, turbo-realism…), not to mention the traditional, more or less stable division into the two main branches – the science fiction and fantasy.
Moreover, fantasy forms a whole subculture – clubs, a system of conferences, journals and symbols (souvenirs, "baubles", garments, toys, gadgets, meshes, artifacts…), a variety of amateur performances and numerous communities; a set of games (such as role-playing, and multi-user computer games – local network and online) – perhaps, no other social formation can boast of such a diversity.
Nevertheless, it is permissible to speak of science fiction as a phenomenon, the features of which science fiction philosophy is intended to clarify, to such extent in which the entire conglomerate of this diverse phenomena may be lawfully called in short, and to the extent that it can somehow be separated from the rest.