To Tell What Happened as Invention: Literature and Philosophy on Learning from Fiction

Abstract

This chapter examines the question whether we can acquire knowledge from fiction, offering a nuanced positive answer based on an account of the fiction/non-fiction distinction. Narrative non-fiction consists of an assertoric core—a speech act governed by a norm requiring truth for its correctness. Fiction consists of a core of fiction-making—a speech act not governed by a norm requiring truth for correctness, but requiring for correctness that interesting imaginings are invited. The chapter argues that this account is compatible with fictions involving truth and allowing for the acquisition of knowledge, on at least two counts. First, like other speech acts, acts of fiction-making can indirectly convey assertions. Second, fictions may assert background facts about the time, the place, or the characters setting up the fiction.