Naslov
Thought Experiments, Hypotheses, and Cognitive Dimension of Literary Fiction

Autori
Vidmar, Iris

Izvornik
Synthesis philosophica (0352-7875) 28 (2014), 1/2; 177-193

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
cognitive values ; hypotheses ; literary cognitivism ; realism ; science fiction

Sažetak
Some authors defend literary cognitivism – the view that literary fiction is cognitively valuable – by drawing an analogy between cognitive values of thought experiments and literary fiction. In this paper my aim is to analyse the reasons for drawing this analogy and to see how far the analogy can be stretched. In the second part, I turn to the claim put forward by literary anti-cognitivists according to which literature can at best be the source of hypotheses, not of knowledge. I challenge this claim by showing that hypotheses can have valuable cognitive benefits on their own, thus hoping to restore cognitive benefits readers get from literature.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filozofija

POVEZANOST RADA