PHI371   Fiction & Truth   (20 credits)

Description

This module grapples with some philosophical puzzles raised by fiction, such as the puzzles of non-existence: how can there be truths about things that don't exist? How can we talk and think about unreal entities? And puzzles surrounding the notion of `true in the fiction'. What is it for something to be true in a fiction? Can it be true in a fiction that torturing someone for fun is ok? The module will also investigate fictionalism: the view that a type of discourse (e.g. moral discourse, mathematical discourse) is best understood, not as aiming at truth, but rather as a sort of fiction.

Reading List