The overarching goal of WP2 is to formulate a philosophical theory concerning fictional literary characters, integrating ontological inquiries from analytic philosophy with insights from literary studies. Traditional philosophical inquiries regarding aspects like the identity and persistence criteria of fictional entities will be re-evaluated within the context of literary scholarship and interpretative methods. This analysis aims not only to contribute to philosophical discourse but also to provide literary experts with conceptual tools from philosophy to support their interpretations. Moreover, this theory will serve as the foundation for the modeling framework designed to document literary interpretations (see WP3).
WP2 will delve into several research questions, including:
- What implications arise when discussing the metaphysical nature of ficta from the perspective of literary criticism?
- Are the identity, persistence, and existence criteria of ficta contingent upon interpreting agents? If so, how does this situation unfold when the same text is subject to non-compatible interpretations? In other words, how many ficta emerge from a single text that undergoes diverse interpretations?”
If you want to know more about WP2’s work, please get in touch with Michele Paolini Paoletti.
Some references related to WP2’s work:
- Paolini Paoletti, M. (2021). How Ficta Depend. Esercizi Filosofici, 16, 3-25 (link)
- Paolini Paoletti, M. (2016). Paradise on the Cheap. Ascriptivism about Ficta. In Existence, Fiction, Assumption. Meinongian Themes and the History of Austrian Philosophy (Vol. 6, pp. 99-139). De Gruyter (link)
- Paolini Paoletti, M. (2015). Attualismo, pluralismo ontologico e meinonghismo. Rivista di estetica, (59), 149-162 (link)
- Paolini Paoletti, M. (2013). Ci sono più cose di quelle che esistono? Essere, esistenza, identità a partire da van Inwagen, 49-67 (link)
- Paolini Paoletti, M. (2014). Il paradosso della finzione. APhEx (link)
- Paoletti, M. P. (2013). Exploring Meinong’s Jungle and Beyond: an Investigation of Noneism and the Theory of Items by R. Routley. HUMANA. MENTE Journal of Philosophical Studies, 6(25), 275-292 (link)