IN DIALOGUE WITH FREGE: HOW HIS CONCEPTS OF SENSE AND REFERENCE INFLUENCED THE PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE

AUTHOR(S) / АУТОР(И): Ema Luna Lalić

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DOI: 10.46793/LLD24.026L

ABSTRACT / САЖЕТАК:

In this paper, I approach Gottlob Frege’s fictional antirealism from the background of the discussion on cognitive value of literature in philosophy of literature, with particular emphasis on Frege’ s influence on Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugom Olsen’s (1994) theory of fiction. I claim that Frege’s writings on fiction do not support the conclusion that we should reject literary cognitivism (the view that literature can provide cognitive benefits). I support this view by providing two lines of argument: 1) a disagreement with respect to the precise nature of Frege’s fictional antirealism results in multiple interpretations of his thought, which is why the application of Frege’s fictional antirealism in Lamarque and Olsen’s theory is dependent on various incongruent assumptions (which I call ‘multiple readings’ of Frege) and 2) satisfaction of the conditions of a strict notion of truth is not crucially important for showing that literary fiction can have cognitive value. This is evident from the fact that the contemporary debates on aesthetic and literary cognitivism often depart from exclusive interest in (and dependence on) truth by appealing to the plurality of cognitive values, not all of which are dependent on truth.

KEYWORDS / КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ:

sense, reference, truth, aesthetic cognitivism, literary fiction

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