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The Intuitive Cosmology of Fictional Worlds

Bibliographic Data

ID23724455
AuthorsDeena Skolnick, Paul Bloom (0000-0003-2335-3389)
Year2006
Pages73-86
Publication date2006-09-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Architecture of the Imagination (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressOxford (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275731.003.0005
OpenAlexW276190836
ISBN9780199275731
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited14

Young children and adults understand the difference between reality and fiction. But recent work in developmental psychology has found that this is not the only distinction that children and adults make: members of both age groups also consider different fictional worlds to be metaphysically separate from each other. This surprising finding reveals that both adults and children impose a much more nuanced structure onto the stories they hear than previously thought. This chapter explores the origins of this structure, arguing that it is the result of how adults and children create and conceptualize the fictional worlds they encounter. Because each fictional world is based on the real world, the entities and relationships that hold in the real world will also tend to hold in any given fictional world. Objections and extensions to this theory are considered.

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Fictional universe · Literature · Metaphysics · Parallel universe · Possible world · Sociology · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Philosophy · Psychology · Themes in Literature Analysis

  • Alief in Action (and Reaction)

    Open Access•Tamar Szabó Gendler•Mind & Language•2008

  • Preschoolers can infer general rules governing fantastical events in fiction

    Julia W Van De Vondervoort, Ori Friedman•Developmental Psychology•2014

  • Learning from Others

    A Gelman, Susan A Gelman•Annual Review of Psychology•2009

  • How We Tell Apart Fiction from Reality

    Anna Abraham•The American Journal of Psychology•2022

  • Imaginative immersion, regulation, and doxastic mediation

    Open Access•Alon Chasid•Synthese•2021

  • How Fictional Worlds Are Created

    Open Access•Deena Skolnick Weisberg•Philosophy Compass•2016

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    Open Access•Gregory Currie•Nature of Fiction•1990

  • Experiencing Narrative Worlds

    Richard J Gerrig, Richard Gerrig•Experiencing Narrative Worlds•1993

  • Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them

    Marjorie Taylor•Imaginary companions and the…•1999

  • Pretending and believing

    Open Access•Angela Maria Leslie, Alan M Leslie•Cognition•1994

  • How Can We Be Moved by the Fate of Anna Karenina?

    Colin Radford, Michael Weston•Aristotelian Society Supplementary…•1975

  • Make believe and reality

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Unique citing works6
Citations per year0.33
Citation span2008 - 2022 (15)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4

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