Where is Sherlock Holmes?

Southern Journal of Philosophy 41 (2):183-197 (2003)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Most philosophers would say that fictional characters lack spatiotemporal location simply because such entities do not exist. However, even prominent believers in ficta hold that they must lack location. I here focus on the views of one such believer, Amie Thomasson, and her Artifactual Theory. The fundamentals of her ontology seem correct, but I argue that the view implies that ficta do have location. I provide a diagnosis of an argument Thomasson gives for the contrary, and then suggest a way for the Artifactual Theory to account for the locations of ficta. I conclude by discussing some potential applications of this contribution to other areas of philosophy

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,100

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

"You know my method": a juxtaposition of Charles S. Peirce and Sherlock Holmes.Thomas A. Sebeok - 1980 - Bloomington, Ind.: Gaslight Publications. Edited by Donna Jean Umiker-Sebeok.
A defense of creationism in fiction.Jeffrey Goodman - 2004 - Grazer Philosophische Studien 67 (1):131-155.
Against Creationism in Fiction.Takashi Yagisawa - 2001 - Noûs 35 (s15):153-172.
Sherlock holmes ‐ Philosopher detective.Wulf Rehder - 1979 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 22 (1-4):441-457.
Could Sherlock Holmes Have Existed?Hanoch Ben-Yami - 2010 - Croatian Journal of Philosophy 10 (3):175-181.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-02-25

Downloads
129 (#141,969)

6 months
10 (#272,213)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Jeffrey Goodman
James Madison University

Citations of this work

A defense of creationism in fiction.Jeffrey Goodman - 2004 - Grazer Philosophische Studien 67 (1):131-155.
Truth in Fiction.Franck Lihoreau (ed.) - 2010 - Ontos Verlag.

View all 8 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references