Age of Reason in Science Fiction
The roots of sci-fi really go back—way back—to the Age of Reason. That's the 18th century we're talking about, when the Enlightenment changed the world as we know it.
During this time, philosophers and scientists emphasized the use of reason over superstition. More and more of the world was being explored and mapped, and it was around this time that authors began writing texts speculating about the future, and focusing their stories on scientific endeavor.
Chew On This
The Age of Reason involved the exploration of new lands and regions that had never been mapped before. Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is set on fictional islands, but its obsession with exploration reflects the Age of Reason's obsession with exploration.
Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, reflects the Age of Reason's appetite for knowledge. Here he is talking up the virtues of scientific knowledge in these quotations from the novel.