Fictions

From Ancient philosophy to contemporary theories of fiction, it is a common practice to relegate illusory appearances to the realm of the non-existent, like shadows on the wall of Plato's cave. Contrary to this traditional mode of drawing a metaphysical distinction between reality and fiction, Markus Gabriel argues that the realm of the illusory, fictional, imaginary, and conceptually indeterminate is as real as it gets.

Being in touch with reality need not and cannot require that we overcome appearances in order to grasp a meaningless reality which exists 'out there,' outside and maybe even beyond our minds. Human mindedness (Geist) exists in the mode of fictions through which we achieve self-consciousness. This novel approach provides a fresh perspective on our existence as subjects who lead their lives in the light of self-conceptions.

Fictions also develops a social ontology according to which the social unfolds as a constant renegotiation of dissent, of differ ent points of view onto the same reality. Thus, we cannot ever hope to ground human society in a fiction-free realm of objective transactions. However, this does not mean that truth and reality are somehow outdated concepts. On the contrary, we need to enlarge our conception of reality so that it fully encompasses ourselves as specifically minded social animals.

This major new work of philosophy will be of interest to students and scholars throughout the humanities and to anyone interested in contemporary philosophy and social thought.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Preface
Introduction
Part One: Fictional Realism
1 Interpretation and Reading
2 There Are No Fictional Objects: Against a Philosophical Myth
3 Meontology in Ontology of Fields of Sense
4 The World Is Not a Fiction: The Incoherence of Borges's The Aleph
5 OFS Is Not a Meinongian Theory of Objects

Part Two: Mental Realism
6 From Naive Realism to Illusionism
7 The Indispensability of Mind
8 The Lifeworld of Ontology of fields of sense
9 Objective Phenomenology
10 Ontology of the Imagination: (Alleged) Expressive Barriers of OFS
11 Fictive, Imaginary and Intentional Objects

Part Three: Social Realism

12 The Nature of Social Facts
13 Our Survival Form: Intransparent Society
14 Rule-Following, Realistically Conceived
15 Mythology, Ideology, Fiction
16 The Ontology of Social Networks
17 The Public Sphere of Mind

On a Final Note: We Must Chase away the Spectre of the Pos t-Truth Era
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Notes
Index

Rezension:

"The polemical edge of Markus Gabriel's Fictions in the current Anglo-American debates marks a return to Philosophy's original promise of describing the human mind as a core condition for existing Reality - without paying the price, conceded by contemporary analytical approaches, of disappearing in the offside of academic specialization. Based on a reshaped concept of 'fiction' as permeating everyday perception, Gabriel brings philosophy back to the claim and function of serving as a matrix for productive intellectual exchanges between different sectors of praxis and culture."
Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guérard Professor in Literature, Emeritus, Stanford University, and Distinguished Professor of Romance Literatures at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem