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Art and fiction are signals with indeterminate truth values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Nathaniel Rabb
Nathaniel Rabb*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. natrabb@gmail.com
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Abstract

Menninghaus et al. distinguish art from fiction, but no current arguments or data suggest that the concept of art can be meaningfully circumscribed. This is a problem for aesthetic psychology. I sketch a solution by rejecting the distinction: Unlike most animal communication, in which signals are either true or false, art and fiction consist of signals without determinate truth values.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e373
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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