Philosophy Compass 2 (2):141–156 (2007)
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| Abstract |
If there are no fictional characters, how do we explain thought and discourse apparently about them? If there are, what are they like? A growing number of philosophers claim that fictional characters are abstract objects akin to novels or plots. They argue that postulating characters provides the most straightforward explanation of our literary practices as well as a uniform account of discourse and thought about fiction. Anti-realists counter that postulation is neither necessary nor straightforward, and that the invocation of pretense provides a better account of the same phenomena. I outline and assess these competing theories
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| Keywords | Fictional characters Fictional realism Pretense theory |
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| DOI | 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2007.00059.x |
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References found in this work BETA
Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts.Kendall L. Walton - 1990 - Harvard University Press.
Intensional Logic and the Metaphysics of Intentionality.Edward N. Zalta - 1988 - Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Models and Representation.Roman Frigg & James Nguyen - 2017 - In Lorenzo Magnani & Tommaso Bertolotti (eds.), Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science. pp. 49-102.
View all 40 citations / Add more citations
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