Taking Abstract Artifacts Seriously—The Functioning and Malfunctioning of Fictional Characters

Abstract

Read online

This paper presents and discusses Simon Evnine’s hylomorphic account of fictional characters and proposes some amendments to it with the aim of explaining the functioning of fictional characters. The paper does so by relying on a case study, viz. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Berenice. The amended hylomorphic account of fictional characters will also be capable of explaining the malfunctioning of fictional characters.

Keywords

• ontology
• fictional characters
• hylomorphism
• form
• matter
• norm