Fiction and Emotion: A Study in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Mind

by Bijoy H. Boruah

Overview

Why do people respond emotionally to works of fiction they know are make-believe? Boruah tackles this question, which is fundamental aesthetics and literary studies, from a totally new perspective. Bringing together the various answers that have been offered by philosophers from Aristotle to Roger Scruton, he shows that while some philosophers have denied any rational basis to our emotional responses to fiction, others have argued that the emotions evoked by fiction are not real emotions at all. In response to this, Boruah contends that fictional emotions are rational because they are based on the same sorts of beliefs that we form about real situations and real people. He illustrates this argument with literary examples ranging from Shakespeare to Tolstoy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195620931
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/05/1989
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.63(w) x 8.81(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Editorial Reviews

"A competent book about a rich and tantalizing topic, the nature and status of the emotions aroused by fictional characters and events....Well-written."—Review of Metaphysics

From the Publisher