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Volume 14 (2022): Issue 66 (December 2022)
Special Issue: Varieties of Context-Sensitivity in a Pluri-Propositionalist Reflexive Semantic Framework

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 65 (November 2022)

Volume 14 (2022): Issue 64 (May 2022)

Volume 13 (2021): Issue 63 (December 2021)
Special Issue on Nothing to Come by Correia & Rosenkranz

Volume 13 (2021): Issue 62 (December 2021)
Ethics and Aesthetics: Issues at Their Intersection

Volume 13 (2021): Issue 61 (November 2021)

Volume 13 (2021): Issue 60 (May 2021)

Volume 12 (2020): Issue 59 (December 2020)

Volume 12 (2020): Issue 58 (December 2020)
SPECIAL ISSUE: ON THE VERY IDEA OF LOGICAL FORM

Volume 12 (2020): Issue 57 (November 2020)

Volume 12 (2020): Issue 56 (May 2020)

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 55 (December 2019)
Special Issue: Chalmers on Virtual Reality

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 54 (December 2019)
Special Issue: III Blasco Disputatio, Singular terms in fiction. Fictional and “real” names

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 53 (November 2019)

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 52 (May 2019)

Volume 10 (2018): Issue 51 (December 2018)
SYMPOSIUM ON JASON STANLEY’S “HOW PROPAGANDA WORKS”

Volume 10 (2018): Issue 50 (December 2018)

Volume 10 (2018): Issue 49 (November 2018)

Volume 10 (2018): Issue 48 (May 2018)

Volume 9 (2017): Issue 47 (December 2017)

Volume 9 (2017): Issue 46 (November 2017)

Volume 9 (2017): Issue 45 (October 2017)

Volume 9 (2017): Issue 44 (May 2017)

Volume 8 (2016): Issue 43 (November 2016)

Volume 8 (2016): Issue 42 (May 2016)

Volume 7 (2015): Issue 41 (November 2015)

Volume 7 (2015): Issue 40 (May 2015)

Volume 6 (2014): Issue 39 (November 2014)

Volume 6 (2014): Issue 38 (May 2014)

Volume 5 (2013): Issue 37 (November 2013)

Volume 5 (2013): Issue 36 (October 2013)
Book symposium on François Recanati’s Mental Files

Volume 5 (2013): Issue 35 (May 2013)

Volume 4 (2012): Issue 34 (December 2012)

Volume 4 (2012): Issue 33 (November 2012)

Volume 4 (2012): Issue 32 (May 2012)
New Perspectives on Quine’s “Word and Object”

Volume 4 (2011): Issue 31 (November 2011)

Volume 4 (2011): Issue 30 (May 2011)
XII Taller d'Investigació en Filosofia

Volume 4 (2010): Issue 29 (November 2010)
Petrus Hispanus 2009

Volume 3 (2010): Issue 28 (May 2010)

Volume 3 (2009): Issue 27 (November 2009)
Homage to M. S. Lourenço

Volume 3 (2009): Issue 26 (May 2009)

Volume 3 (2008): Issue 25 (November 2008)

Volume 2 (2008): Issue 24 (May 2008)

Volume 2 (2007): Issue 23 (November 2007)
Normativity and Rationality

Volume 2 (2007): Issue 22 (May 2007)

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Volume 1 (2006): Issue 20 (May 2006)

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Volume 1 (2003): Issue 14 (May 2003)

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Volume 1 (2001): Issue 11 (November 2001)

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Volume 1 (2001): Issue 10 (May 2001)

Volume 1 (2000): Issue 9 (November 2000)

Volume 1 (2000): Issue 8 (May 2000)

Volume 1 (1999): Issue 7 (November 1999)

Volume 1 (1999): Issue 6 (May 1999)

Volume 1 (1998): Issue 5-2 (November 1998)
Special Issue: Petrus Hispanus Lectures 1998: o Mental e o Físico, Guest Editors: Joao Branquinho; M. S. Lourenço

Volume 1 (1998): Issue 5-1 (June 1998)
Special Issue: Language, Logic and Mind Forum, Guest Editors: Joao Branquinho; M. S. Lourenço

Volume 1 (1998): Issue 4 (May 1998)

Volume 1 (1997): Issue 3 (November 1997)

Volume 1 (1997): Issue 2 (May 1997)

Volume 1 (1996): Issue 1 (December 1996)

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2182-2875
First Published
01 Dec 1996
Publication timeframe
4 times per year
Languages
English, Portuguese

Search

Volume 11 (2019): Issue 54 (December 2019)
Special Issue: III Blasco Disputatio, Singular terms in fiction. Fictional and “real” names

Journal Details
Format
Journal
eISSN
2182-2875
First Published
01 Dec 1996
Publication timeframe
4 times per year
Languages
English, Portuguese

Search

7 Articles
Open Access

Singular Terms in Fiction. Fictional and “Real” Names (III Blasco Disputatio)

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 111 - 142

Abstract

Abstract

In this introduction, I consider different problems posed by the use of singular terms in fiction (section 1), paying especial attention to proper names and, in particular, to names of real people, places, etc. As we will see (section 2), descriptivist and Millian theories of reference face different kinds of problems in explaining the use of fictional names in fiction-related contexts. Moreover, the task of advancing a uniform account of names in these contexts—an account which deals not only with fictional names but also with “real” names—will prove to be very hard no matter whether we favour realist or antirealist intuitions about fictional discourse (section 3). Section 4 offers an overview of the content of this volume, with emphasis on the discussion between Manuel García-Carpintero and Stacie Friend about the meaning of “real” names in fiction-related contexts, the main topic of the Third Blasco Disputatio.

Keywords

  • Singular terms
  • fiction
  • proper names
  • reference
Open Access

Singular Reference in Fictional Discourse?

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 143 - 177

Abstract

Abstract

Singular terms used in fictions for fictional characters raise well-known philosophical issues, explored in depth in the literature. But philosophers typically assume that names already in use to refer to “moderatesized specimens of dry goods” cause no special problem when occurring in fictions, behaving there as they ordinarily do in straightforward assertions. In this paper I continue a debate with Stacie Friend, arguing against this for the exceptionalist view that names of real entities in fictional discourse don’t work there as they do in simple-sentence assertions, but rather as fictional names do.

Keywords

  • Fictional reference
  • empty names
  • fictional characters
  • fiction
  • reference
Open Access

Reference in Fiction

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 179 - 206

Abstract

Abstract

Most discussions of proper names in fiction concern the names of fictional characters, such as ‘Clarissa Dalloway’ or ‘Lilliput.’ Less attention has been paid to referring names in fiction, such as ‘Napoleon’ (in Tolstoy’s War and Peace) or ‘London’ (in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four). This is because many philosophers simply assume that such names are unproblematic; they refer in the usual way to their ordinary referents. The alternative position, dubbed Exceptionalism by Manuel García-Carpintero, maintains that referring names make a distinctive semantic contribution in fiction. In this paper I offer a positive argument for Non-Exceptionalism, relying on the claim that works of both fiction and non-fiction can express the same singular propositions. I go on to defend my account against García-Carpintero’s objections.

Keywords

  • Reference
  • fiction
  • proper names
  • fictional discourse
  • singular thought
Open Access

Singular Terms, Identity, and the Creation of Fictional Characters

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 207 - 229

Abstract

Abstract

How to interpret singular terms in fiction? In this paper, we address this semantic question from the perspective of the Artifactual Theory of Fiction (ATF). According to the ATF, fictional characters exist as abstract artifacts created by their author, and preserved through the existence of copies of an original work and a competent readership. We pretend that a well-suited semantics for the ATF can be defined with respect to a modal framework by means of Hintikka’s world lines semantics. The question of the interpretation of proper names is asked in relation to two inference rules, problematic when applied in intensional contexts: the Substitution of Identicals and Existential Generalization. The former fails because identity is contingent. The latter because proper names are not necessarily linked to well-identified individuals. This motivates a non-rigid interpretation of proper names in fiction, although cross-fictional reference (e.g. to real entities) is made possible by the interpretative efforts of the reader.

Keywords

  • Artifactualism
  • fiction
  • world lines
  • substitution of identicals
  • existential generalization
Open Access

Interpretive Context, Counterpart Theory and Fictional Realism without Contradictions

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 231 - 253

Abstract

Abstract

Models for truth in fiction must be able to account for differing versions and interpretations of a given fiction in such a way that prevents contradictions from arising. I propose an analysis of truth in fiction designed to accommodate this. I examine both the interpretation of claims about truth in fiction (the ‘Interpretation Problem’) and the metaphysical nature of fictional worlds and entities (the ‘Metaphysical Problem’). My reply to the Interpretation Problem is a semantic contextualism influenced by Cameron (2012), while my reply to the Metaphysical Problem involves an extension and generalisation of the counterpart-theoretic analysis put forth by Lewis (1978). The proposed analysis considers interpretive context as a counterpart relation corresponding to a set of worlds, W, and states that a sentence φ is true in interpretive context W iff φ is true at every world (wW). I consider the implications of this analysis for singular terms in fiction, concluding that their extensions are the members of sets of counterparts. In the case of pre-existing singular terms in fiction, familiar properties of the corresponding actual-world entities are salient in restricting the counterpart relation. I also explore interpretations of sentences concerning multiple fictions and those concerning both fictional and actual entities. This account tolerates a plurality of interpretive approaches, avoiding contradictions.

Keywords

  • Fiction
  • singular terms
  • counterpart theory
  • fictional realism
  • semantic contextualism
Open Access

Fictional Content

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 255 - 269

Abstract

Abstract

It is usually taken for granted that a necessary condition for knowing that P is the truth of P. It may therefore be claimed that if we assume that we gain some kind of knowledge through fiction (let us call it fictional knowledge) of P*, then P* should be true—in at least a certain sense. My hypothesis is that this assumption grounds the different ways adopted by philosophers for attributing truth-conditions to fictional sentences. My claim in this work is that fictional sentences do not have truth-values and truth-conditions, but I want to maintain that we gain some kind of knowledge through fiction: to this aim, I will characterize the objective content of fictional sentences not in terms of truth-conditions (which are usually described by appealing to rules of the language or rules of interpretation of language independent of the actual users), but in dispositional terms and I will define a necessary condition for fictional knowledge accordingly.

Keywords

  • Truth in fiction
  • non-truth-conditional content in fiction
  • propositions
  • objectivity
  • dispositions
Open Access

Indexed Mental Files and Names in Fiction

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 271 - 289

Abstract

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the theory of mental files can provide a unitary cognitive account of how names and singular terms work in fiction. I will suggest that the crucial notion we need is not the one of regular file, i.e., a file whose function is to accumulate information that we take to be about a single object of the outside world, but the notion of indexed file, i.e., a file that stands, in the subject’s mind, for another subject’s file about an object. When we read a novel containing the name of an individual, we acquire (fictional) information about that individual and we store those pieces of information into an indexed file. If the name also refers to a real individual outside the context of fiction, the indexed file is linked with the pre-existing regular file that we have about such individual. Otherwise, the indexed file is linked to a regular file referring to an abstract object, namely the fictional entity itself.

Keywords

  • François Recanati
  • mental files
  • indexed files
  • empty names
  • fictional characters
7 Articles
Open Access

Singular Terms in Fiction. Fictional and “Real” Names (III Blasco Disputatio)

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 111 - 142

Abstract

Abstract

In this introduction, I consider different problems posed by the use of singular terms in fiction (section 1), paying especial attention to proper names and, in particular, to names of real people, places, etc. As we will see (section 2), descriptivist and Millian theories of reference face different kinds of problems in explaining the use of fictional names in fiction-related contexts. Moreover, the task of advancing a uniform account of names in these contexts—an account which deals not only with fictional names but also with “real” names—will prove to be very hard no matter whether we favour realist or antirealist intuitions about fictional discourse (section 3). Section 4 offers an overview of the content of this volume, with emphasis on the discussion between Manuel García-Carpintero and Stacie Friend about the meaning of “real” names in fiction-related contexts, the main topic of the Third Blasco Disputatio.

Keywords

  • Singular terms
  • fiction
  • proper names
  • reference
Open Access

Singular Reference in Fictional Discourse?

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 143 - 177

Abstract

Abstract

Singular terms used in fictions for fictional characters raise well-known philosophical issues, explored in depth in the literature. But philosophers typically assume that names already in use to refer to “moderatesized specimens of dry goods” cause no special problem when occurring in fictions, behaving there as they ordinarily do in straightforward assertions. In this paper I continue a debate with Stacie Friend, arguing against this for the exceptionalist view that names of real entities in fictional discourse don’t work there as they do in simple-sentence assertions, but rather as fictional names do.

Keywords

  • Fictional reference
  • empty names
  • fictional characters
  • fiction
  • reference
Open Access

Reference in Fiction

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 179 - 206

Abstract

Abstract

Most discussions of proper names in fiction concern the names of fictional characters, such as ‘Clarissa Dalloway’ or ‘Lilliput.’ Less attention has been paid to referring names in fiction, such as ‘Napoleon’ (in Tolstoy’s War and Peace) or ‘London’ (in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four). This is because many philosophers simply assume that such names are unproblematic; they refer in the usual way to their ordinary referents. The alternative position, dubbed Exceptionalism by Manuel García-Carpintero, maintains that referring names make a distinctive semantic contribution in fiction. In this paper I offer a positive argument for Non-Exceptionalism, relying on the claim that works of both fiction and non-fiction can express the same singular propositions. I go on to defend my account against García-Carpintero’s objections.

Keywords

  • Reference
  • fiction
  • proper names
  • fictional discourse
  • singular thought
Open Access

Singular Terms, Identity, and the Creation of Fictional Characters

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 207 - 229

Abstract

Abstract

How to interpret singular terms in fiction? In this paper, we address this semantic question from the perspective of the Artifactual Theory of Fiction (ATF). According to the ATF, fictional characters exist as abstract artifacts created by their author, and preserved through the existence of copies of an original work and a competent readership. We pretend that a well-suited semantics for the ATF can be defined with respect to a modal framework by means of Hintikka’s world lines semantics. The question of the interpretation of proper names is asked in relation to two inference rules, problematic when applied in intensional contexts: the Substitution of Identicals and Existential Generalization. The former fails because identity is contingent. The latter because proper names are not necessarily linked to well-identified individuals. This motivates a non-rigid interpretation of proper names in fiction, although cross-fictional reference (e.g. to real entities) is made possible by the interpretative efforts of the reader.

Keywords

  • Artifactualism
  • fiction
  • world lines
  • substitution of identicals
  • existential generalization
Open Access

Interpretive Context, Counterpart Theory and Fictional Realism without Contradictions

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 231 - 253

Abstract

Abstract

Models for truth in fiction must be able to account for differing versions and interpretations of a given fiction in such a way that prevents contradictions from arising. I propose an analysis of truth in fiction designed to accommodate this. I examine both the interpretation of claims about truth in fiction (the ‘Interpretation Problem’) and the metaphysical nature of fictional worlds and entities (the ‘Metaphysical Problem’). My reply to the Interpretation Problem is a semantic contextualism influenced by Cameron (2012), while my reply to the Metaphysical Problem involves an extension and generalisation of the counterpart-theoretic analysis put forth by Lewis (1978). The proposed analysis considers interpretive context as a counterpart relation corresponding to a set of worlds, W, and states that a sentence φ is true in interpretive context W iff φ is true at every world (wW). I consider the implications of this analysis for singular terms in fiction, concluding that their extensions are the members of sets of counterparts. In the case of pre-existing singular terms in fiction, familiar properties of the corresponding actual-world entities are salient in restricting the counterpart relation. I also explore interpretations of sentences concerning multiple fictions and those concerning both fictional and actual entities. This account tolerates a plurality of interpretive approaches, avoiding contradictions.

Keywords

  • Fiction
  • singular terms
  • counterpart theory
  • fictional realism
  • semantic contextualism
Open Access

Fictional Content

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 255 - 269

Abstract

Abstract

It is usually taken for granted that a necessary condition for knowing that P is the truth of P. It may therefore be claimed that if we assume that we gain some kind of knowledge through fiction (let us call it fictional knowledge) of P*, then P* should be true—in at least a certain sense. My hypothesis is that this assumption grounds the different ways adopted by philosophers for attributing truth-conditions to fictional sentences. My claim in this work is that fictional sentences do not have truth-values and truth-conditions, but I want to maintain that we gain some kind of knowledge through fiction: to this aim, I will characterize the objective content of fictional sentences not in terms of truth-conditions (which are usually described by appealing to rules of the language or rules of interpretation of language independent of the actual users), but in dispositional terms and I will define a necessary condition for fictional knowledge accordingly.

Keywords

  • Truth in fiction
  • non-truth-conditional content in fiction
  • propositions
  • objectivity
  • dispositions
Open Access

Indexed Mental Files and Names in Fiction

Published Online: 13 May 2020
Page range: 271 - 289

Abstract

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the theory of mental files can provide a unitary cognitive account of how names and singular terms work in fiction. I will suggest that the crucial notion we need is not the one of regular file, i.e., a file whose function is to accumulate information that we take to be about a single object of the outside world, but the notion of indexed file, i.e., a file that stands, in the subject’s mind, for another subject’s file about an object. When we read a novel containing the name of an individual, we acquire (fictional) information about that individual and we store those pieces of information into an indexed file. If the name also refers to a real individual outside the context of fiction, the indexed file is linked with the pre-existing regular file that we have about such individual. Otherwise, the indexed file is linked to a regular file referring to an abstract object, namely the fictional entity itself.

Keywords

  • François Recanati
  • mental files
  • indexed files
  • empty names
  • fictional characters