Fiction as Reality

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Message 1537260 - Posted: 7 Jul 2014, 11:03:20 UTC
Last modified: 7 Jul 2014, 11:13:21 UTC

Came across this very interesting read. Thought it might be needed to put it here, could help some of you people imo:)

https://www.adf.org/articles/philosophy/fictionr.html

My claim that fiction is more basic than fact in no way implies that every fiction is worthy of acceptance. We have many criteria to distinguish good fiction from bad. In science, for example, in order to be accepted it must be testable, it must be the best explanation, and meet all of the other criteria scientists have for good theories. Or, if it is a claim about the physical world rather than a theory, then in order for the story to be good it must be consistent with the best theories available. (It is extremely bad fiction, evaluated by the criteria of science, to think that if you just believe a bullet call do you no harm, then it won't.)


I believe we are using the wrong criteria to evaluate religious fiction. Most people seem to believe that the issue with religion is whether the gods, or god, etc. exist, and they evaluate religions according to how each one answers that question. But religion originally was not about a commitment to metaphysical beliefs, but a set of practices. (Religion has to do with performing rites in the proper manner.) In fact, one of the main difficulties of scholars is that in many cases, they can't connect known behaviors with beliefs. Religion, more than any other field, tells us what kinds of activities to perform. (Ethics tells us what to do in particular situations, where religion tells us what ritual behaviors to perform on a regular basis.) Therefore the yardstick of good fiction in religion shouldn't be how well it answers the question, 'do the gods exist' but how well it answers the question, 'what are the gods like, what practices do they demand?' Their existence is utterly irrelevant to religion; it's their attributes which are essential. If people judged the religion by the values it espouses, the place it gives them in the universe, the image of divinity it upholds, then no one would choose a religion which made him hate himself or whose values were impoverished.

I am not claiming that the issue of whether or not the gods are real is irrelevant, but that their reality is based not on existence, but on attributes. The verb 'to be' has three uses: the existential, predicative and veridical. According to the existential, 'to be' means to exist; in the predicative, to be some property; and in the veridical, to be the case, or to be true. The gods are real if they 'are.' But though they are, that doesn't mean they must exist. Instead the gods are real in the predicative sense, or insofar as they have properties we accept as real. I, for example, don't believe that omnipotence makes any sense whatsoever. Because I don't accept omnipotence as meaningful, or exemplifiable, the Hebrew God is less real to me.


Article by Deborah Kest
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Message 1537293 - Posted: 7 Jul 2014, 14:31:16 UTC - in response to Message 1537260.  

Thought it might be needed to put it here, could help some of you people imo:)
What do you mean by "you people"?
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Message 1537294 - Posted: 7 Jul 2014, 14:43:27 UTC - in response to Message 1537293.  
Last modified: 7 Jul 2014, 14:44:09 UTC

Thought it might be needed to put it here, could help some of you people imo:)
What do you mean by "you people"?



I wrote 'some of you people'. People who mix up reality and fiction at times;)
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Message 1537317 - Posted: 7 Jul 2014, 15:40:09 UTC - in response to Message 1537294.  

I wrote 'some of you people'. People who mix up reality and fiction at times;)
Oh like on this supposed forum.
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Message 1537326 - Posted: 7 Jul 2014, 16:11:41 UTC - in response to Message 1537317.  

I wrote 'some of you people'. People who mix up reality and fiction at times;)
Oh like on this supposed forum.


Is it that obvious?
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Message 1544736 - Posted: 20 Jul 2014, 4:28:47 UTC - in response to Message 1537326.  

I wrote 'some of you people'. People who mix up reality and fiction at times;)
Oh like on this supposed forum.


Is it that obvious?

Do you have anybody in mind? I know of several, some more mixed up than others. Some are just having sport but some may have real problems.
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Message 1544825 - Posted: 20 Jul 2014, 10:39:11 UTC
Last modified: 20 Jul 2014, 10:51:20 UTC

Metaphors, and other tropes, are the ways of figuratively describing the world.
Literal images are employed, in more direct ways.

Literal and figurative images, used to describe what our senses have evolved
to cope with -- and thrive in, are based on our five senses.

I would base a validity of our senses, on evolution. The senses, plus the
brain to interpret them, evolved in concert with the ever-changing world environment. Those interpretations of the environment which did not confer any benefits on the organism, would pass from a species' gene pool (or, be rendered irrelevant, or, used for another purpose). Those, which accurately interpreted
the environment, would be retained, and passed on through succeeding generations.

But, extinction is, also, still, a reality -- given enough time. Especially,
today, when some people choose to ignore what some peoples senses -- aided by
scientific instrumentation -- have been showing: global warming is a reality,
whether natural, or man-made, would be irrelevant.

Our (collectively) evolved brains must respond in such a way that humanity's --
if not the world's -- survival, is assured.

For yours truly, fiction should be a positive literary force, enabling a
better life, for all. To enter into the world of literature, and hear,
in the mind's eye, what generations before us have endured -- and, have
contributed to the human society -- is to want to set down that last book,
with a glimmer of hope that, perhaps, a few more generations will be able
to pass, and face their future with a reasonable degree of confidence.
Hopefully, they will be appreciative of our generation's efforts.
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Message boards : Politics : Fiction as Reality


 
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