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Artistic Verisimilitude (II)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2010

J. P. Day
Affiliation:
University of Keele

Extract

We are now in a position to answer the question of importance or relevance : the question, namely, whether it is true, as it is often claimed to be, that works of fine art which are ∼ AN, in particular tragedies and novels, should be AV; and, if so, why. Briefly, it seems to me that the claim is true for a variety of reasons which I shall now detail.

I pointed out earlier that a literary work is not a tragedy or a work of fiction at all unless it is ∼ AN. (Subsecs. 2.1.1., 2.1.3.) But if it is AV, then it is of course ∼ AN, so that this condition is met. Moreover, it is met n i the most satisfactory way; for, although a work is also ∼ AN if it is ∼ AV, it is evident that the better way of being ∼ AN is to be AV.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 1962

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References

1The following list of works is offered as a select bibliography of the subject. In the text, reference is made to some of them by letter and by page-number, thus: ‘N, 123;’.Google Scholar
2(A) Aristollc, Poetics, tr. I. Bywater in Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Oxford, 1909). (B) M. C. Beardsley, Aesthetics, esp. chs. 6, 8, 9 (New York, 1958). (C) A. C. Bradley, Shakespearean Tragedy, esp. lees. 1, 2 (repr. Macmillan, London, 1957). (D) R. B. Braithwaite, Imaginary Objects, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 12, 1933. (E) S. H. Butcher, Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, 4th cd., esp. lee. 3 (London, 1907). (F) E. F. Carritt, Theory of Beauty, 4th ed., chs. 3, 4 (London, 1931). (G) R. G. Collingwood, Principles of Art, chs. 3, 13 (Oxford, 1938). (H) R. T. Harris, Plausibility in Fiction, Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 49, 1952. (I) H. L. A. Hart, A Logician's Fairy Tale, Philosophical Review, Vol. 60, 1951. (J) W. Hazlitt, Characters of Shakespear's Plays (repr. Dent, London, 1906). (K) B. C. Heyl, Artistic Truth Reconsidered, Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 8, 1950. (L) J. Hospers, Meaning and Truth in the Arts, esp. chs. 6, 7 (Chapel Hill, N. Carolina, 1946). (M) H. House, Aristotle's Poetics, ed. C. Hardie, esp. lee. 4 (London, 1956). (N) D. Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, bk. 1, pt. 3, sec. 10, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge (Oxford, 1896). (O) S. Johnson, Preface to Shakespeare, in W. Raleigh, Johnson on Shakespeare (London, 1908). (P) M. MacDonald, Art and Imagination, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 53, 1953. (Q.) M. MacDonald, Language of Fiction, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 28, 1954. (R) R. Meager, Tragedy, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 34, 1960. (S) J. S. Mill, System of Logic, bk. 6, ch. 5, 8th ed. (London, 1872). (T) J. S. Mill, Thoughts on Poetry and its Varieties, Dissertations and Discussions, Vol. 1 (London, 1859). (U) G. E. Moore, Imaginary Objects, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 12, 1933. (V) Plato, Republic, bks. 3, 10, tr. F. M. Cornford (Oxford, 1941). (W) A. Quinton, Honesty in Fiction, The Listener, 22 Nov. 1956. (X) A. Quinton, Tragedy, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 34, 1960. (Y) J. Reynolds, Discourses on Art, esp. nos. 3, 4, 7, 13, ed. R. R. Wark (San Marino, Calif., 1959). (Z) G. Ryle, Imaginary Objects, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 12, 1933. (AA) M. Scriven, Language of Fiction, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 28, 1954. (AB) W. Sellars, Presupposing, Philosophical Review, Vol. 63, 1954. (AC) P. F. Strawson, Introduction to Logical Theory, ch. 6, pt. 3, sec. 7 (London, 1952). (AD) P. F. Strawson, On Referring, Mind, Vol. 49, 1950. (AE) P. F. Strawson, Reply to Mr Sellars, Philosophical Review, Vol. 63, 1954. (AF) M. Weitz, Truth in Literature, Revue Internationale de Philosophic, Vol. 9, 1955. (AG) P. Welsh, Hypotheses, Plausibility, and Fiction, Philosophical Review, Vol. 62, 1953.Google Scholar