Object of the mind
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| A scientist might make a clear distinction about objects that exist, and assert that all objects that exist are made up of either matter or energy. But in the layperson's [[worldview]], existence includes real, fictional, and even contradictory objects. Thus if we reason from the statement "[[Pegasus]] flies" to the statement "Pegasus exists", we are not asserting that Pegasus is made up of atoms, but rather that Pegasus exists in a particular worldview, the worldview of [[classical myth]]. When a mathematician reasons from the statement "ABC is a triangle" to the statement "triangles exist", she is not asserting that triangles are made up of atoms but rather that triangles exist within a particular [[mathematical model]]. | A scientist might make a clear distinction about objects that exist, and assert that all objects that exist are made up of either matter or energy. But in the layperson's [[worldview]], existence includes real, fictional, and even contradictory objects. Thus if we reason from the statement "[[Pegasus]] flies" to the statement "Pegasus exists", we are not asserting that Pegasus is made up of atoms, but rather that Pegasus exists in a particular worldview, the worldview of [[classical myth]]. When a mathematician reasons from the statement "ABC is a triangle" to the statement "triangles exist", she is not asserting that triangles are made up of atoms but rather that triangles exist within a particular [[mathematical model]]. | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| + | *[[Existence]] | ||
| *[[Plato's beard]] | *[[Plato's beard]] | ||
| *[[Nonentity]] | *[[Nonentity]] | ||
| + | *[[Nothing]] | ||
| *[[List of legendary creatures]] | *[[List of legendary creatures]] | ||
| *[[Transcendental argument for the non-existence of God]]'' | *[[Transcendental argument for the non-existence of God]]'' | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Revision as of 16:38, 16 October 2014
| "Imaginary gardens with real toads in them" --Marianne Moore |
Illustration: Noble and Ignoble Grotesque from the The Stones of Venice
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Common sense suggests the non-existence of such things as fictional characters or fictional places. Human beings seem to process information about fictional characters in much the same way that they process information about real people. For example, it is the common experience of actresses who play the villain in a soap opera being accosted in public as if they are to blame for the actions of the characters they play.
A scientist might make a clear distinction about objects that exist, and assert that all objects that exist are made up of either matter or energy. But in the layperson's worldview, existence includes real, fictional, and even contradictory objects. Thus if we reason from the statement "Pegasus flies" to the statement "Pegasus exists", we are not asserting that Pegasus is made up of atoms, but rather that Pegasus exists in a particular worldview, the worldview of classical myth. When a mathematician reasons from the statement "ABC is a triangle" to the statement "triangles exist", she is not asserting that triangles are made up of atoms but rather that triangles exist within a particular mathematical model.
See also
- Existence
- Plato's beard
- Nonentity
- Nothing
- List of legendary creatures
- Transcendental argument for the non-existence of God
