Fiction : A Philosophical Analysis

By taking a distinctively institutional approach, Catharine Abell provides a unified solution to a wide range of philosophical problems raised by fiction. In particular, she draws attention to the epistemology of fiction, which has not yet attracted the philosophical scrutiny it warrants. There has been considerable discussion of what determines the contents of works of fiction, yet few attempts have been made to explain how audiences identify their contents, or to identify the norms governing the correct understanding and interpretation of them. This book answers both metaphysical and epistemological questions concerning fiction in a way that clarifies the relation between them: What distinguishes works of fiction from works of non-fiction? What is the nature of fictive utterances? How do audiences identify the contents of authors’ fictive utterances? How does understanding a work of fiction differ from interpreting it? This book develops the first single theory to provide answers to these questions and many more. Additional ISBNs0198831528, 019256725X, 9780198831525, 9780192567253Fiction: A Philosophical Analysis is written by Catharine Abell and published by OUP Oxford. ISBNs for Fiction are 9780192567260, 0192567268 and the print ISBNs are 9780198831525, 0198831528. Additional ISBNs include 0198831528, 019256725X, 9780198831525, 9780192567253.