Lies We Can Believe In

Fiction, Pretense and Human Nature

A Workshop at the University of Virginia

March 26-7, 2010

How is it possible to learn from representations of phenomena which we know to be untrue? To what extent can this propensity have had adaptive value in the evolution of our species? When does the valorization of pretense become dangerous, both for those engaged in it and for others around them? Under what circumstances, on the other hand, does it come to be regarded as beneficial? If fiction is proposed to stem from the childhood phenomenon of pretend play, how do we understand that phenomenon, and what is the nature of childhood play in cultures where fiction is not admired? Finally, what role in the human capacity for fiction is played by the species-specific endowment of language, with its distinctive capacity to represent what is not present? This workshop proposes to examine the mechanisms (biological, cultural, linguistic, philosophical) that create and traverse the boundary between the fictional and the real, and which allow for the multiple attitudes to non-reality that characterize the human species.

This Workshop will bring together anthropologists, linguists, psychologists, and philosophers.

It is open to all members of the University of Virginia community, as well as to the public.

With presentations by

Kristin Andrews (Philosophy, York University, Canada)

Suzanne Gaskins (Psychology, Northeastern Illinois University)

Raymond Mar (Psychology, York University, Canada)

Anne Russon (Psychology, York University, Canada)

Joel Robbins (Anthropology, UCSD)

Marjorie Taylor (Psychology, University of Oregon)

Kendall Walton (Philosophy, University of Michigan)

Organizers:

Eve Danziger (Anthropology)

Mitch Green (Philosophy)

Angeline Lillard (Psychology)

Sponsored by the Page-Barbour Fund,

University of Virginia

Contact Mitch Green (msg6m@virginia.edu) for more information