Abstract

We can tell tales not just of what does not happen, but of what cannot happen. I think this phenomenon can tell us two kinds of philosophically interesting things. It tells us interesting things about fiction and how to understand it. It also tells us interesting things beyond fiction: about how representation works, about how concepts and conceptual truth works, and about the epistemology of modal truths. This paper will be a tour of all of these topics. Finally, I will discuss some ways of resisting these lessons, and say why the resistance looks undermotivated.