Philosophical Writing Prompts

You're the one humans call Death. Except you aren't some god. You're just a human who was cursed with an immortal life and being sent anywhere someone dies.

It is an unchangeable condition of genies' existence that they die after granting a certain number of wishes. Write a story about the last wish in the world.

After decades of searching, humanity finally makes contact with an alien species. But instead of sending a message of peace or war, the aliens send a single question: ‘Why are you alone?’

After realizing how unlikely it is that they’re the *only* intelligent life forms but also that they appear to be alone, Adam and Eve try to solve the Fermi paradox.

“I have some advice for you. Never, ever take the advice at face value, given to you by someone desperately eager to give you guidance.”

Eaten either way, the sheep discuss what's the real difference between the shepherd and the wolf.

"You've been giving people advice this whole time and you have nobody?"

You're a scientist. You and your colleagues have managed to image the Human soul for the first time. But that was a year ago now. You still haven't recovered. You're still having nightmares.

We are not peaceful because we are bad at war. We are peaceful because we are very, very good at it.

“Why are we fighting?” I asked. The bomber pilot barely looked up from his target list, “To win the war.”

Every human is given the chance to watch their own funeral after they die. They are allowed to choose one thing said about them to take into their next life, where it will be placed in their subconcious. It will shape who they are in that life.

Identical twin sisters confessed their love to you. They are both close friends of yours but they ask you to choose one of them. Can you convince them to compromise?

In the future, a person is capable of transferring their consciousness to a new body of their choosing in a process that kills the original body. However, not only have you survived the procedure, your consciousness was cloned.

“Why did you name me No One?”

{Incest} There’s a discount for couples, and you’re tight on cash. They ask for the two of you to prove it. Things get grabby on her end. This all feels kind of like a set up.

"If you walk out into that desert, you'll either find paradise... or hell."

You live in the 1600s when witches were being burned at the stake. But, unlike the women that were burned, you have magical powers and are a witch. You try to avoid detection, while trying to save the women, all the while feeling guilty that the actual witch gets to live while innocents die

The hotel you’re staying at is exclusive, expensive and one of the finest in the world. One of the perks of staying there is that staff must comply to every request asked of them by guests, you decide to make full use of this rule on your weekend there

You're sitting across the table from your final target. You know you're going to fight and attempt to kill them, and they know this, too. Right now, though, you're just old friends, trying to patch up old wounds and enjoy each other's company.

Haunted by an insatiable obsession with the afterlife, a man uncovers the devastating truth of its nonexistence. Refusing to surrender to despair, he vows to defy fate and forge an afterlife of his own creation.

Reverse Omelas: a god will wreak havoc on the city if one person's happiness isn't kept perfect, to the constant anxiety and often material detriment of everyone else

You have been reincarnated as the evil demon king and have been playing your role well, growing into the whole evil thing, nearly against your will and Loosing your old self slowly. Now, you find out your best friend has been reincarnated as the young hero send to slay you.

"They might as well be dead."

Take a character you've already established as a protagonist, hero, or good person and give them a believable(and in character) villain arc.

For the longest time you were a slave to fate, but now you command it

The most powerful word in the language of magic is "not"

"Deafening silence, is mark of true professionalism, with many tales of how they achieved it and scars of failures to prove them. I am interested to hear one of those tales of yours."

Feeling threatened by a new coworker thats now on track to get the promotion you’ve been working for, you decide to spread some malicious rumors about them. Unfortunately for you somehow these rumors actually make them more popular.

There’s a monk in Tibet, famous for his unshakeable calm. Tourists pay for a 20-second challenge: get him to react in any way, and they win. No one has ever succeeded. Until one day, a small boy walks up, whispers something in the monk's ear... and the monk completely loses it.

You are a sentient/sapient fictional character, but instead of existing in any defined setting or story, you exist only in your Author's mind