Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
Edidin, Aron
Area of Concentration
Philosophy
Abstract
This thesis is giving an account of how a novel may affect a reader’s personal autonomy. In order to express this interaction between a fictional work of literature and a person, I use Catriona Mackenzie’s analysis of Richard Wolheim’s central imagination and Diana Meyers’ conception of autonomy, autonomy competency. I use central imagination because this theory states imagining can have a physical and mental effect on the imaginer’s empirical self that is similar to the situation that the imaginer is experiencing in the imagining. Furthermore, I use Meyers’ autonomy competency because it is dynamic and states that a person must be exposed to external influences to be considered autonomous. I combine these two theories in addition to my own theory of how a person “makes sense” of what another person is trying to convey to them. In combining these two theories I am able to show how a novel allows for a reader to experience different situation in an imagination and use those experiences to sustain, enhance, or change their current self.
Recommended Citation
Brown, Donovan, "Fiction, Imagination, Autonomy: Can Identifying with Fictional Characters Enhance a Reader’s Autonomy?" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5168.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5168