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Philosophy Colloquium: Hannah Kim
April 10 @ 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Nonfiction Is Not (Just) to Be Believed
Philosophers of fiction routinely rely on an unexamined contrast class: nonfiction. The dominant assumption is that nonfiction is discourse meant to be believed (while fiction is discourse meant to be imagined or make-believed). This paper argues that this assumption about nonfiction is unsatisfying. Focusing on memoir and art criticism, I show that central nonfiction genres are not governed primarily by norms of belief. If nonfiction is not unified by an expectation or invitation to believe, then the make-believe/belief contrast cannot mark the boundary between fiction and nonfiction. We therefore need a more nuanced account of what, if anything, unifies nonfiction, if only to provide a more stable foundation for theorizing about fiction.
April 10, Brin Talk, Hannah Kim, University of Arizona.
Location: CRT 175
Talk starts at 3:30 PM
Location: CRT 175
Talk starts at 3:30 PM
