Do We Need Truth in Fiction?

Elisa Paganini (Università degli Studi di Milano)

The 2026 Dorothy Emmet public lecture at the University of Manchester will be given by Professor Elisa Paganini (Università degli Studi di Milano) on Thursday 21st May from 4-6pm. The lecture is open to all - we hope to see you there!

The Dorothy Emmet Lecture: Do We Need Truth in Fiction?

Abstract: Fiction is thought to work by telling us what is true in an imagined world. But do we really need to settle what is true in order to engage with a story? Drawing on examples of indeterminacy, unreliable narration, and disorientation, I argue that we can understand and appreciate fiction without fixing its facts. What matters is not determining the truth about a fictional world, but responding to the ways a story guides our imagination.

Where: Room G6, Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL.

When: 21/05/2026, 4pm-6pm.

About the Dorothy Emmet Lecture series: Started in 2016, the Lectures commemorate Dorothy Emmet, an eminent mid-20th Century philosopher. Emmet was lecturer, reader and then Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at Manchester from 1938 until her retirement in the mid-1960s, and was Head of Department for over twenty years. The Dorothy Emmet Lectures are generously supported by The Royal Institute of Philosophy Local Partners Programme. The lectures are aimed at the general public and require no prior knowledge of philosophy.