Reference fiction, and omission

Samuel Murray

pp. 235-257

in: Philippe Huneman, Daniel Kostić (eds), Mechanistic and topological explanations, Synthese 195 (1), 2018.

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that sentences that contain ‘omission’ tokens that appear to function as singular terms are meaningful while maintaining the view that omissions are nothing at all or mere absences. I take omissions to be fictional entities and claim that the way in which sentences about fictional characters are true parallels the way in which sentences about omissions are true. I develop a pragmatic account of fictional reference and argue that my fictionalist account of omissions implies a plausible account of the metaphysics of omissions.