The Wisdom of Wizards

The Cognitive Value of Fantasy Literature

Authors

  • Greyson Gold

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33043/S.15.1.20-31

Abstract

In this paper, I explore the cognitive value of fantasy literature. Using Immanuel Kant's and Jean-Paul Sartre's discussions of the imagination, and J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories,” I argue that fantasy literature is cognitively valuable when it confers phenomenal knowledge. I move on to demonstrate what a work of fantasy literature requires to confer this phenomenal knowledge. Fantasy literature has the potential to reveal true insights into this world when it brings the reader into a state of “secondary belief” and confers phenomenal knowledge through the union of world and story.

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Published

2022-04-19

How to Cite

Gold, G. (2022). The Wisdom of Wizards: The Cognitive Value of Fantasy Literature. Stance: An International Undergraduate Philosophy Journal, 15(1), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.33043/S.15.1.20-31

Issue

Vol. 15 (2022): Stance

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Greyson Gold

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