Possible worlds of fiction and history johns hopkins. Dole els book is the first systematic application of this idea to the theory and philosophy of history. Possible worlds the living handbook of narratology. This is because a literary text houses its own system of modality, consisting of actual worlds actual events and possible worlds possible events.
Possible worlds are ersatz if they are constructed out of entities of different kinds, such as fregean propositions or interpreted sentences. Beginning with a discussion of the extant semantics and pragmatics of fictionalityby leibniz, russell, frege, searle, auerbach, and othershe relates them to literature, literary theory, and narratology. A writers perspective billeskov jansen, frederik julius pages 293301. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read mere possibilities. Fiction and possible worlds, dolezel proposes a conception of fictional semantics quite different from the view that emerges from lewis analysis of truth in fiction and from its implication, the principle of minimal departure.
However, impossible worlds allow for finegrained distinctions unavailable in standard possible worlds semantics. Dolezels book is the first systematic application of this idea to the theory and. The concept of possible worlds henceforth pw, loosely inspired by leibniz. In particular, possible world theory provides a useful vocabulary and conceptual framework with which to describe such worlds. Possible world project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. The worry is that unconstrained impossible worlds semantics makes no real progress over this purely syntactic approach jago 2007, 2009. This is the guiding idea of possible worlds semantics. Although possible world has been part of the philosophical lexicon at least since leibniz, the notion became firmly entrenched in contemporary philosophy with the development of possible world semantics for the languages of propositional and firstorder modal logic. Possible worlds in logic philosophy stack exchange. Similarly, logical, mathematical, metaphysical, biological, etc.
Possibleworlds semantics reveals that possible worlds of fiction and possible worlds of history differ in their origins, cultural functions, and structural and semantic features. Its true that, under one understanding of accessibility and determining, your accessibility relation is determined by your axioms. In his 1975 article possible worlds in literary semantics further developed in his 1986 book fictional worlds, he sees in the concept of pw a. Possible worlds theory and contemporary narratology by alice. The result scarcely makes sense, and it appears to me that the author may well be aware of this. Logical expressions in logic and philosophy of logic. In philosophy and logic, the concept of a possible world is used to express modal claims. Pavel titled possible worlds in literary semantics appeared in the journal ofaesthetics and art criticism. This paper reassesses lewiss theory and draws attention to some novel problems for his account. Literary fiction is probably the most active experimental laboratory of the worldconstructing enterprise. It is often contrasted with the way things actually are. This site is like a library, use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. A semantics for modal logic was first introduced in the late1950s work of saul kripke and his colleagues. Heterocosmica appeared in the wake of a number of other books on the application of possible worlds theory to literary semantics pavel, ronen, maitre, semino, and myself, but none of these books with the possible exception of pavels would have been what it is, nor arguably written at all, without the inspiration provided by dolezels.
Heterocosmica johns hopkins university press books. Discussion of lars gyllenstens paper possible worlds a chorus of a multitude of souls. It considers problems in the logic of knowledge, the meaning of alternative logics, models of imagination and mental simulation, the theory of information, truth in fiction, the. Leibniz used the concept of a possible world in his proposed solution to the theological problem of the existence of evil, arguing that an. More basically, you can use possible worlds to cash out the idea of an inferences being valid. Mar 02, 2012 in a series of articles starting in 1976 1976a, 1976b and culminating in the 1998 book heterocosmica. Beginning with a discussion of the extant semantics and pragmatics of fictionality. Possible worlds have also been used to give a semantics for counterfactual conditionals, though this is more controversial. As the combinatorialist fiction already includes nonactual states of. Kripkean modal semantics offers what could be called a distant model for the theory of fiction.
The canonical version of possible worlds semantics for story prefixes is due to. Click download or read online button to get the last of all possible worlds book now. The canonical version of possible worlds semantics for story prefixes is due to david lewis. Professor eco uses it to introduce the latest and most fashionable developments in modal logic in particular, the theory of possible worlds. In heterocosmica, lubomir dolezel offers nothing less than a complete theory of literary fiction based on the idea of possible worlds. As a theory concerned with the opposition between the actual.
A semantics for modal logic was first introduced in the late1950s work of saul kripke and. Possible worlds semantics reveals that possible worlds of fiction and possible worlds of history differ in their origins, cultural functions, and structural and semantic features. The intention is to show how the notion of possibleworlds semantics allows us to generate a fresh interpretation of the notions of fiction and creativity. From this groundwork, the theory of possible worlds became a central part of. Fictional worlds semantics builds to a considerable extent on the notion of possible worlds used by logical semantics. One is that in talking of stories such as the pwf possible world fiction, the. Possible worlds can tie together two sets of problems and show their interrelations for instance, that a conditional on the linguistic level can be described as constructing a counterfactual world. Key works applying possible worlds semantics to natural language include.
In the paper we will study the notions of possibleworlds semantics, fiction, and creativity. The last of all possible worlds download ebook pdf, epub. Possibleworlds semantics can be used in interpreting modal notions. Possible worlds have also been used to give a semantics for counterfactual conditionals, though this. Dec 06, 2012 semantic mechanisms of humor ebook written by v. Dolezels book is the first systematic application of this idea to the theory. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and narrative theory guide. Roger scruton possible worlds and premature sciences. Possible worlds hence work in philosophy as a theoretical model whose explanatory power results from its hosting and linking two orders.
Possible worlds semantics is also used in a narrower sense, to refer to formal kripke semantics for modal and other logics. Diane proudfoot, possible worlds semantics and fiction. Dolezels book is the first systematic application of this idea to the theory and philosophy of history. In possible worlds semantics, p is physically possible if there is an accessible world at which p is true.
Possible worlds semantics and fiction researchgate. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence and narrative. So the physical accessibility relation should be compatibility with the laws of physics. Possible worlds semantics university of notre dame.
Leibniz used the concept of a possible world in his proposed solution to the theological problem of the existence of evil, arguing that an allperfect god would actualize the best of all possible worlds. Possibleworlds semantics reveals that possible worlds of fiction and possible. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read semantic mechanisms of humor. Possible worlds theory in literary studies uses concepts from possible world logic and applies them to worlds that are created by fictional texts, fictional universe. In heterocosmica, lubommr dolezel offers nothing less than a complete theory of literary fiction based on the idea of possible worlds.
Possible worlds semantics pws is a family of ideas and methods that have been used to analyse concepts of philosophical interest. Contemporary science fiction books, where monsters appear to. In addition to the usual sentence operators of classical logic such as and. Beginning with a discussion of the extant semantics and pragmatics of fictionality by leibniz, russell, frege, searle, auerbach, and others he relates them to literature, literary theory, and narratology. Possible worlds theory and contemporary narratology on jstor. Possible worlds semantics and fiction article in journal of philosophical logic 351. Specifically, in possible world semantics, the modal operators are. The theory of fictional worlds considers fictional worlds to be specific kinds of possible worlds but, at the same time, fictional worlds are determined by their specific qualities.
As a model for narrative semantics, pw theory is applicable to both fiction and nonfiction. Possible worlds semantics and fiction, journal of philosophical logic, 35. Roger scruton possible worlds and premature sciences lrb. Girle 2003 and girle 2000 are introductory textbooks on formal possible worlds semantics in modal logic. Search for literature and possible worlds books in the search form now, download or read books for free, just by creating an account to enter our library. The book is a highly effective overview and response to the literature on modal metaphysics. Apr 02, 1998 literary fiction is probably the most active experimental laboratory of the worldconstructing enterprise. The hardcover of the possible worlds of fiction and history. Preliminary motivations fictional worlds semantics builds to a considerable extent on the notion of possible worlds used by logical semantics. This book discusses the metaphysics of impossible worlds and applies the concept to a range of central topics and open issues in logic, semantics, and philosophy. The semantics of modal logic arose in the following way. Metaphysical foundations of modal semantics ebook written by robert stalnaker.
The idea is that talk of possible worlds is too useful to modal semantics to. The notion of possible worlds has played a decisive role in postclassical narratology by awakening interest in the nature of fictionality and in emphasizing the notion of world as a source of aesthetic experience in narrative texts. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and narrative theorydecember 1991. Possible worlds theory and contemporary narratology by. Possible worlds theory in literary studies uses concepts from possibleworld logic and applies them to worlds that are created by fictional texts, fictional universe. John divers considers the prevalent philosophical positions, including realism, antirealism and the work of important writers on possible worlds such as david lewis, evaluating them in detail. While that perspective is a valuable one, there is a more direct one in which the accessibility relation is just some subset of the cartesian product of worlds.
In the meantime, philosophers working in formal semantics were making brief allusions to the resemblance of possible worlds to stories adams and to books plantinga as a. In particular, possibleworld theory provides a useful vocabulary and conceptual framework with which to describe such worlds. Possible world, conception of a total way the universe might have been. In this book, we propose a model, inspired by the semantics of fiction and possible worlds, which is oriented to the analysis of video games as integrated systems. Possible worlds stanford encyclopedia of philosophy.
Possible worlds presents the first uptodate and comprehensive examination of one of the most important topics in metaphysics. Modal metaphysics internet encyclopedia of philosophy. If theres no logical structure to impossible worlds, then we might do as well to model an agents knowledge using an arbitrary set of sentences, as in konolige 1986. Pws was originally focused on the important concepts of necessity and possibility. Possibleworlds semantics reveals that possible worlds of fiction and. Beginning with a discussion of the extant semantics and pragmatics of fictionality by leibniz, russell, frege, searle, auerbach, and others he relates them to literature, literary th. A statement in modal logic that is possible is said to be true in at least one possible world. Possible worlds, artificial intelligence and narrative theory marielaure ryan download bok. Semantics, possible worlds routledge encyclopedia of. The theory of fictional worlds considers fictional worlds to be specific kinds of possible worlds but, at the same time, fictional worlds are determined by their. An impossible proposition need not be equated with the empty set of worlds, for it may be a set which includes only impossible worlds. In fiction, the principle of simultaneity, it extends to cover the dimensional aspect, when it is contemplated that two or more physical objects, realities, perceptions and objects nonphysical, can coexist in the same spacetime.
In the meantime, philosophers working in formal semantics were making brief allusions to the resemblance of possible worlds to stories adams and to books plantinga as a way to solidify the concept. This study substantially enriched literary theory by linking it to the modal logic of possible worlds. Verisimilitude and fiction at the university of mon treal. More than 1 million books in pdf, epub, mobi, tuebl and audiobook formats.
If we use extension as a label for the reference of an expression so that the extensions of names are objects, and the extensions of simple predicates are functions from objects to truthvalues we can introduce intension as a label for an expressions reference across possible worlds. We propose a theoreticalpractical model called theory of ludofictional worlds, inspired by the semantics of fiction and possible worlds, and which is. Project muse possible worlds of fiction and history. Semantics, possible worlds routledge encyclopedia of philosophy.
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