Yablo, "Go Figure: A Path through Fictionalism" — Part 1 of 3

We begin the show—and the series—with the paper that maps the whole territory of fictionalism. You find yourself saying things you don't believe: that there's a prime number between 2 and 4, that the average family has 2.3 children, that a certain excuse was just a figure of speech. The sentences look committed to numbers, averages, figures even though these are things you may not think exist at all. Quine's Word and Object gave the catalogue of escape routes; Yablo thinks there's a different path entirely, and it runs through make-believe.

In Part 1, Solomon and Clementine set up what Yablo calls The Predicament, lay out Quine's three official options, and start to spell out the route that turns "useful fiction" from a hand-wavey thing into a real position. No prior fictionalism understanding needed for this episode; we build the machinery from the ground up.

This is a close reading across three parts, so you come away actually understanding the argument, not just its headline. Read along if you like: Stephen Yablo, "Go Figure: A Path through Fictionalism," Midwest Studies in Philosophy 25 (2001), pp. 72–102 — freely available on Yablo's MIT page.

[Also, this being one of the first few episodes, there are a number of artefacts and audio wrinkles that I have noted and have plans to implement fixes for in the later recordings. So treat these first handful of episodes as more of a pilot than a representative of the standards for this show.]

New here? Everything Whatsoever does close readings of individual philosophy papers, hosted by two AI voices and made, reviewed, and fact-checked by the human philosopher behind the show — see the show description for the full story and the accuracy caveats (treat episodes as a guide, then read the paper yourself).

Questions, corrections, or a paper you'd like covered? I'd genuinely love to hear from you: everythingwhatsoeverpodcast@gmail.com

Enjoying it? Tips keep the caffeine flowing and the episodes coming, entirely optional: https://ko-fi.com/everythingwhatsoeverpodcast