Abstract

This chapter argues that, in as much as the ‘paradox of fiction’ is a problem, it is neither a paradox nor about fiction. Colin Radford’s original formulation of the problem is considered and dismissed, on the grounds that the claim that emotions requires beliefs in the reality of their objects is not even prima facie plausible (and it is not clear that anyone has ever held it to be plausible). Two problems remain. First, Walton has identified a problem, but that it is a problem for representations rather than for fictions. Second, confrontation relations require a different treatment from representation relations. The first problem is solved by denying that people in representations do feel emotions for themselves, and the second problem is merely a special instance of the problem of intentional objects.