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Fictionalism in Philosophy
Contributor(s): Armour-Garb, Bradley (Editor), Kroon, Frederick (Editor)

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 ISBN: 0190689609     ISBN-13: 9780190689605
Publisher: Oxford University Press
OUR PRICE: $114.00  

Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: January 2020
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Philosophy | Epistemology
- Philosophy | Logic
- Philosophy | Language
Dewey: 165
LCCN: 2019032566
Physical Information: 1.1" H x 5.5" W x 8.4" L (1.00 lbs) 256 pages
Features: Bibliography, Index
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
There are things we routinely say that may strike us as literally false but that we are nonetheless reluctant to give up. This might be something mundane, like the way we talk about the sun setting in the west (it is the earth that moves), or it could be something much deeper, like engaging in
talk that is ostensibly about numbers despite believing that numbers do not literally exist. Rather than regard such behaviour as self-defeating, a fictionalist is someone who thinks that this kind of discourse is entirely appropriate, even helpful, so long as we treat what is said as a useful
fiction, rather than as the sober truth.

Fictionalism can be broadly understood as a view that uses a notion of pretense or fiction in order to resolve certain puzzles or problems that otherwise do not necessarily have anything to do with literature or fictional creations. Within contemporary analytic philosophy, fictionalism has been on
the scene for well over a decade and has matured during that time, growing in popularity. There are now myriad competing views about fictionalism and consequently the discussion has branched out into many more subdisciplines of philosophy. Yet there is widespread disagreement on what philosophical
fictionalism actually amounts to and about how precisely it ought to be pursued. This volume aims to guide these discussions, collecting some of the most up-to-date work on fictionalism and tracing the view's development over the past decade. After a detailed discussion in the book's introductory
chapter of how philosophers should think of fictionalism and its connection to metaontology more generally, the remaining chapters provide readers with arguments for and against this view from leading scholars in the fields of epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of science, philosophy of
language, and others.
 
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