Fictionalism and Reasons

Revolutionary forms of fictionalism reach conclusions that seem immodest by the relatively modest means of weighing up one set of reasons against another. This project faces several objections. Is there any attitude other than belief which we can take to the theories we use? Does the fictionalist require an untenable distinction between ordinary and philosophical contexts? Does fictionalism assume an invidious distinction between worlds possessing and not possessing a rejected posit? Is fictionalism unable to explain the success of false theories that are given the fictionalist treatment or the place in such theories of theoretical claims that play no useful role? This chapter seeks to address all of these objections.