Description

Book Synopsis
This challenging study places fiction squarely at the centre of the discussion of metaphysics. Philosophers have traditionally treated fiction as involving a set of narrow problems in logic or the philosophy of language. By contrast Amie Thomasson argues that fiction has far-reaching implications for central problems of metaphysics. The book develops an 'artifactual' theory of fiction, whereby fictional characters are abstract artifacts as ordinary as laws or symphonies or works of literature. By understanding fictional characters we come to understand how other cultural and social objects are established on the basis of the independent physical world and the mental states of human beings.

Table of Contents
Introduction: from fiction into metaphysics; Part I. The Artifactual Theory of Fiction: Foreword; 1. If we postulated fictional objects, what would they be?; 2. The nature and varieties of existential dependence; 3. Fictional characters as abstract artifacts; 4. Reference to fictional characters; 5. Identity conditions for fictional characters; Part II. Ontological Decisions: Foreword; 6. Fiction and experience; 7. Fiction and language; 8. Ontology and categorization; 9. The perils of false parsimony; 10. An ontology for a varied world; Notes; Bibliography.

Fiction and Metaphysics Cambridge Studies in Philosophy

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    A Paperback by Amie L. Thomasson

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      Book details

      Publisher Cambridge University Press
      Published 6 December 2008
      ISBN-13 9780521065214
      978-0521065214
      ISBN-10 0521065216
      Also in:
      Philosophy: aesthetics

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This challenging study places fiction squarely at the centre of the discussion of metaphysics. Philosophers have traditionally treated fiction as involving a set of narrow problems in logic or the philosophy of language. By contrast Amie Thomasson argues that fiction has far-reaching implications for central problems of metaphysics. The book develops an 'artifactual' theory of fiction, whereby fictional characters are abstract artifacts as ordinary as laws or symphonies or works of literature. By understanding fictional characters we come to understand how other cultural and social objects are established on the basis of the independent physical world and the mental states of human beings.

      Table of Contents
      Introduction: from fiction into metaphysics; Part I. The Artifactual Theory of Fiction: Foreword; 1. If we postulated fictional objects, what would they be?; 2. The nature and varieties of existential dependence; 3. Fictional characters as abstract artifacts; 4. Reference to fictional characters; 5. Identity conditions for fictional characters; Part II. Ontological Decisions: Foreword; 6. Fiction and experience; 7. Fiction and language; 8. Ontology and categorization; 9. The perils of false parsimony; 10. An ontology for a varied world; Notes; Bibliography.

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