Mental Fictionalism

This workshop will be part of a series in which we discuss the prospects of a middle ground between realism and eliminativism about mental entities, and the proper interpretation of folk psychological discourse. The series began with the publication of the Monist issue on 'Mental Fictionalism' in 2013. We also had a successful workshop on fictionalism in Budapest and another on mental fictionalism in Edinburgh, both in 2014. Our plan now is to refine our arguments, and to evaluate recent developments in the field (such as e.g. Bács 2018, Smythe 2017, Toon 2016, Wallace 2016).

The planned talks cover not only the nature of fiction, the mental, and folk psychology--but also a number of related topics such as mental illness, the self, embodiment, ontological commitment, reason-giving, and knowledge-attributions. 

The event is open to anyone who wishes to attend.

(Note that Daniel Dennett is unable to attend in person but is joining us via Skype.)