Single Idea 10446

[catalogued under 19. Language / B. Reference / 1. Reference theories]

Full Idea

We must distinguish 'reference' in a fiction from reference outside the fiction to fictional entities.

Gist of Idea

Fictional reference is different inside and outside the fiction

Source

Kent Bach (What Does It Take to Refer? [2006], 22.1)

Book Reference

'Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language', ed/tr. Lepore,E/Smith,B [OUP 2008], p.534


A Reaction

This may be more semantically than ontologically significant. It is perhaps best explicated by Coleridge's distinction over whether or not I am 'suspending my disbelief' when I am discussing a character.