Dr Stacie Friend (Birkbeck, University of London)
Reality in Fiction

The concept of ‘truth in fiction’ prompts two questions: (i) What does it mean to say that something (e.g., a proposition) is fictionally true? (ii) How are the fictional truths determined? In answer to (i) I defend a version of the claim that fictional truth should be understood in terms of prescriptions to imagine. However, my focus in this talk is on (ii). I argue that the starting point for determining fictional truth is the assumption that fictional stories invite us to imagine about the real world. In consequence, we assume that whatever really obtains also obtains in the fictional world, so long as it is consistent with other fictional truths. I defend this claim against objections and contrast it with alternative approaches.