Hermeneutic Fictionalism: A Guide for the Perplexed (G. Contessa)

Conférence | Talk

Gabriele Contessa

(Carleton University)

Hermeneutic Fictionalism: A Guide for the Perplexed

Hermeneutic fictionalism (about some class of entities (e.g.: numbers, propositions, possible  worlds, moral properties, or aesthetic properties)) is the view that ordinary speakers engage with sentences that seem to refer to or quantify over those entities analogously to how they engage with the contents of works of fiction—i.e. by participating in an elaborate pretence. One standard objection to hermeneutic fictionalism is that pretence is luminous (i.e. one cannot pretend without knowing one is pretending) and that ordinary speakers do not usually see themselves as engaging in pretence when engaging in the relevant discourse. In this paper, I will argue that, contrary to what is usually assumed, one can engage in pretence without being fully aware of that fact that one is doing so.

Friday, September 26th, 2014

3:00pm

Carleton University

River Building

Room 3228

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