Special Episode: Are Fictional Characters Real?

In this special episode, Dan and Kylie wade into murky philosophical waters to investigate why we're able to laugh, cry, and rage over the fates of fictional characters. If you want to know what's in Dan's copious notes referenced on this episode, here's some of the reading we did to prep for this recording: --Bernard Paris, Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature, NYU Press (1997) --Amie L. Thomasson, Fiction and Metaphysics, Cambridge UP (1999)--Baruch Hochman, Character in Literature , Cornell University Press (1985)--Howard Sklar, "Believable Fictions: On the Nature of Emotional Responses to Fictional Characters," Helsinki English Studies, Vol 5 (2009) --Paisley Livingstone, Andrea Sauchelli, and Paisley Livingston, "Philosophical Perspectives on --Fictional Characters," New Literary History, Vol. 42.2 (2011)--Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's "Fictional Entities" (2018)