What are virtual items, and are they real?

Asian Journal of Philosophy 3 (1):1-11 (2024)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

A central debate in the philosophy of virtual reality (VR) focuses on the reality of virtual items. Broadly, there are two main disagreements. Some views accept a metaphysical orientation to VR, and disagree on the reality of virtual items. For instance, David Chalmers (Disputatio 9(46):309-352, 2017, Disputatio 11(55):453- 486, 2019, 2022) defends digitalism, the view that virtual items are real digital items. Neil McDonnell & Nathan Wildman (Disputatio 11(55):371-397, 2019), by contrast, defend fictionalism, which maintains that virtual items are unreal fictions. Other views, like Grant Tavinor’s (2021), reject the metaphysical orientation, argu- ing that focusing on the reality of virtual items is a mistake. In what follows I evalu- ate these two disagreements. I argue that experiences of virtual items depend on episodes of picture perception. Recognizing this reveals that the current debates are either easily resolved in favor of one view, or are not disagreeing about the reality of virtual items, but about what virtual items are.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,205

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Virtual and the Real.David J. Chalmers - 2017 - Disputatio 9 (46):309-352.
The Values of the Virtual.Rami Ali - 2023 - Journal of Applied Philosophy 40 (2):231-245.
What is Real in Virtual Reality?Paweł Grabarczyk - 2024 - Roczniki Filozoficzne 72 (1):79-98.
The Virtual as the Digital.David J. Chalmers - 2019 - Disputatio 11 (55):453-486.
The Transition into Virtual Reality.Mark Silcox - 2019 - Disputatio 11 (55):437-451.
Virtual fictional actions.Karim Nader - forthcoming - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-02-06

Downloads
65 (#266,634)

6 months
29 (#114,981)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Rami El Ali
University of Arizona

Citations of this work

Emotion and Ethics in Virtual Reality.Alex Fisher - forthcoming - Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Virtual and the Real.David J. Chalmers - 2017 - Disputatio 9 (46):309-352.
Painting as an Art.Richard Wollheim - 1987 - Princeton University Press.
Mind and body.Hilary Putnam - 1981 - In Reason, Truth and History. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Threefoldness.Bence Nanay - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (1):163-182.

View all 16 references / Add more references