Consuming Fictions Part II

This chapter and the next consider whether our emotional and cognitive “immersion” within fiction suggests a role for sui generis imaginative states. Currie’s (2010) argument that “i-desires” should be posited to explain our responses to fiction—and tragedy, in particular—is critically discussed. It is argued that beliefs and desires featuring ‘in the fiction’ operators—and not sui generis imaginings—are the crucial states involved in generating fiction-directed affect. A defense of the Operator Claim is mounted, according to which ‘in the fiction’ operators would also be required within fiction-directed sui generis imaginings, were there such. When we appreciate that even fiction-directed sui generis imaginings would need to incorporate ‘in the fiction’ operators, the main appeal of the thesis that sui generis imaginings are at work in fiction-appreciation is undercut.