Reid on fictional objects and the way of ideas
Philosophical Quarterly 52 (209):582-601 (2002)
| Abstract | I argue that Reid adopts a form of Meinongianism about fictional objects because of, not in spite of, his common sense philosophy. According to 'the way of ideas', thoughts take representational states as their immediate intentional objects. In contrast, Reid endorses a direct theory of conception and a heady thesis of first-person privileged access to the contents of our thoughts. He claims that thoughts about centaurs are thoughts of non-existent objects, not thoughts about mental intermediaries, adverbial states or general concepts. In part this is because of the common sense semantics he adopts for fictional-object terms. I show that it is reasonable for Reid to endorse Meinongianism, given his epistemological priorities, for he took the way of ideas to imply that his view about first-person privileged access to our mental contents was false | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,865 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesFrancesco Berto (2008). Modal Meinongianism for Fictional Objects. Metaphysica 9 (2):205-218.
Nicholas Wolterstorff (2006). What Sort of Epistemological Realist Was Thomas Reid? Journal of Scottish Philosophy 4 (2):111-124.
Anthony Everett (2007). Pretense, Existence, and Fictional Objects. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (1):56–80.
Todd Buras (2002). The Problem with Reid's Direct Realism. Philosophical Quarterly 52 (209):457-477.
Rebecca Copenhaver (2007). Reid on Consciousness: Hop, Hot or For? Philosophical Quarterly 57 (229):613-634.
Gabriele Contessa (2010). Scientific Models and Fictional Objects. Synthese 172 (2).
Rebecca Copenhaver (2000). Thomas Reid's Direct Realism. Reid Studies 4 (1):17-34.
Tim Crane (2007). Intentionalism. In Ansgar Beckermann & Brian P. McLaughlin (eds.), Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford University Press.
Susan V. Castagnetto (1992). Reid's Answer to Abstract Ideas. Journal of Philosophical Research 17:39-60.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads15 ( #79,694 of 556,807 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #27,255 of 556,807 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
