American Society for Aesthetics Wiley
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American Society for Aesthetics Wiley
American Society for Aesthetics Wiley Fear, Fiction and Make-Believe Author(s): Alex Neill Source: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 47-56 Published by: Wiley on behalf of American Society for Aesthetics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/431648 Accessed: 18-10-2015 21:49 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. American Society for Aesthetics and Wiley are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ALEX NEILL Fear,Fiction and Make-Believe I Charles is watching a horrormovie about a terrible green slime. He cringes in his seat as the slime oozes slowly but relentlessly over the earth destroying everything in its path. Soon a greasy head emerges from the undulatingmass, and two beady eyes roll around, finally fixing on the camera. The slime, picking up speed, oozes on a new course straight towards the viewers. Charles emits a shriek and clutchesat his chair.Afterwards,still shaken,Charles confesses that he was "terrified" of the slime. Was he?' Thus KendallWaltonbegins his much-discussed paper "Fearing Fictions." His answer is that Charleswas not, literally speaking, afraidof the slime: "to construe [our affective responses to fiction] as consisting of our having psychological attitudestowardsfictional entities is, I think, to tolerate mystery and court confusion" (FF, p. 6). The problemthatWaltonpointsto has its roots in a cognitive, essentially Aristotelian,theory of emotion.2 On this theory, the emotions are (at least partly) defined in terms of evaluativebeliefs orjudgments. Centralto pity, for example, is a belief that the object of one's emotion is in some sense a victim of misfortune;and as Walton says, "it seems a principleof common-sense, one which ought not to be abandonedif there is any reasonablealternative,thatfear [foroneself] must be accompanied by, or must involve, a belief thatone is in danger"(FF pp. 6-7). While this theory has gained increasing acceptance among philosophers, it raises a numberof problems with respect to certain of our affective responses to fiction. Since I do not believe that Conrad'scharacterWinnie Verloceverexisted, I do not believe thatshe was in any way a victim of misfortune.WhateverI may feel for her, then, it would seem that it cannotproperlybe described as pity. As Waltonsays, "Charlesdoes not believe thathe is in danger;so he is not afraid"(FF, pp. 6-7); and for similar reasons, "when it is said that someone pities Willy Loman, or worries about Tom and Becky, or detests lago, or envies Superman,what is said is probablynot literallytrue" (FF, p. 21). A number of philosophers have concluded that it is not logically possible that we should experience emotions the objects of which, we know, do not exist. 3 But if manyof our affective responses to fiction are not properlydescribed as emotions, then how are they to be described? What kind of responses are our affective responses to what we know to be fictional? It is arguablethat being moved in certain ways by a workof fiction can be a criterionof understanding thatwork;4and writersfrom Aristotleto the Romanticshave arguedthat the fact that fiction can elicit affective responsesfromus constitutes a central part of the reason why we value it. These claims will remainpartly mysteriousunless we can say what it is thatfictionmovesus to. We need to be able to say whatkindof responses are our affective responses to what we know to be fictional. If we areto havea coherentphilosophy of emotion (and without it there can be no coherentphilosophyof mind), and a persuasive account of the nature and value of aesthetic experience, then we need to be able to describe adequately the affective aspects of that experience. Broadly speaking, it appears that what we requireis a way of redescribingCharles's"fear" of the slime monsterand my "pity" for Winnie Verlocthat explains the inclinationthat we have to describethese responsesas emotions, without either distortingtheir characteror violating the The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 49:1 Winter 1991 This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 48 constraintson any such redescriptionimposed by the cognitive account of emotion.5 The most sophisticated, and influential, account of this sort thathas been offered to date is Walton's.He suggests that statementsattributingto a person emotions the objects of which are knownby that person to be fictional are to be understood as occurringwithin the scope of the operator"It is make-believe that ..." The psychological state of a personwho "pities"Willy Loman, or "worries" about Tom Sawyer and Becky lost in the cave, or "hates"lago, or "envies" Superman: is a result of his awareness of certain make-believe truths: that make-believedly Willy is an innocent victim of cruel circumstances, that make-believedly Tom and Becky might perish in the cave, that makebelievedly Jago deceived Othello about Desdemona, that make-believedly Supermancan do almost anything. Thefact that theperson'spsychological state is as it is, and is caused by such beliefs, makes it makebelieve that he pities Willy, worries about Tomand Beck',rhates lago, or envies Superman. (FF, p. 21; emphasisadded) the readeror spectator.Explainingthis, he asks us to imagine a child playing an ordinarygame of make-believewith his father,who is pretending to be a vicious monster.In such a game the child "is perfectly aware that his fatheris only 'playing,' that the whole thing is 'just a game,' and that only make-believedlyis there a vicious monster after him. He is not really afraid." However, while the child is not really afraid, "make-believedlythe child is in grave and mortal danger. And when the child screams and runs, make-believedlyhe knows that he is in dangerand is afraid"(FF, p. 13, emphasisadded). The idea is thatCharlesis to be regardedas analogous to the child, while the slime plays (something like) the role of the father. The movie makes it fictionallythe case thatthereis a ferocious green slime on the loose, apparently unstoppable,and with a refinedtaste for human flesh. By itself, the movie generatesno fictional truthsconcerningCharles.However,in responding to the movie Charlesenters into a game of make-believe, and this game generates makebelieve truthswhich do concernhim. Relativeto this game: Walton'ssubtle and complex account has been highly influential; however, it has also often been misunderstood. In what follows, I shall consider some of the criticisms that have been levelled at it, with a view to gettingclearerabout the details of the account. This will pavethe way for a discussion of what I shall argue to be its genuine flaws. At the heart of Walton'saccount lies his suggestion that in respondingto a work of fiction I may, and typically do, enter into a game of make-believein whichI use the workas a "prop." Such games of make-believe, as well as representationalworks of art, can generate fictional truths. For example, in a game of mud-pies, it may be fictionally true that Sally's pie is larger than Johnny's. What makes this fictionally the case is (a) the fact that Sally's glob of mud is largerthanJohnny's,and (b) the existence of an acceptedprinciple, or rule, of the game, according to which the size of globs of muddetermines the size of pies. Waltoncalls fictional truthsthat are established by games of this sort makebelieve truths. In much the same way that globs of mud can function as props in a game of mudpies, he suggests, a workof fiction may function as a prop in a game of make-believeplayed by When the slime raises its head, spies the camera, and begins oozing towards it, it is make-believe that Charles is threatened.And when as a result Charles gasps and grips the armof his chair,make-believedly he is afraid. Charles is playing a game of makebelieve in which he uses the images on the screen as a prop. (FF,p. 13; emphasisadded) This is the kernel of Walton's account. What makes it make-believethatCharlesis threatened by the slime are the facts that(a) the slime oozes towards the camera, and that (b) there is an accepted principle or rule of the game which Charlesis playingwith the movie, this principle states that when the slime oozes towards the camera the spectator is threatenedby it. Not only is it make-believethatCharlesis threatened by the slime, it is also make-believedlythe case that Charles is afraid. What makes it makebelieve that Charles is afraid is partly the fact that he has the feelings and sensations that go with his increasedpulse-rate,musculartension, surges of adrenalin, and so on. Walton labels this physiological/psychological state "quasifear." However, Charles's feelings and sensations are not by themselves sufficientto make it This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Neill 49 Fear, Fiction and Make-Believe make-believe that he is afraid, any more than his experiencing these feelings and sensations in different circumstances would be sufficient to make it actually the case that Charles was afraid rather than angry or excited. As in a case of actual emotion, Charles's beliefs play a determining role: Charlesbelieves (he knows) that make-believedlythe green slime is bearing down on him and he is in dangerof being destroyedby it. His quasi-fearresults from this belief. What makes it make-believe that Charlesis afraidratherthan angry or excited or upset is the fact that his quasi-fear is caused by the belief that make-believedlyhe is in danger. And his belief thatmake-believedlyit is the slime thatendangershim is what makes it make-believe that the slime is the object of his fear. In short, my suggestion is this: the fact thatCharlesis quasi-afraidas a resultof realizing that make-believedlythe slime threatenshim generates the truththat make-believedlyhe is afraidof the slime. (FFEp. 14) It is make-believe that Charles is afraid inasmuch as his experience of "quasi-fear" (that is, of the sensations and feelings characteristic of actual fear) is caused not by a belief that he is actually in danger (if it were, he would actually be afraid), but rather by his belief or realization that it is make-believedly the case that he is in danger. In the course of a paper on the nature of horror, Noel Carroll characterizes Walton's account of our affective responses to what we know to be fictional as "The Pretend Theory." The problem with the account, he argues, "is that though ingenious, it does not seem descriptively accurate. When I am art-horrified by Dracula I am in a genuine emotional state, not a pretend state. "6 Similarly, David Novitz argues that "Walton ... maintains that anyone who properly understands fiction is never actually moved by fictional events. Rather, it is only make-believe true that the reader is so moved. "7 However, Novitz argues, we can only makebelieve that we are afraid if we believe that we are not really afraid: The trouble is that many theatre-goersand readers believe thatthey are actually upset, excited, amused, afraid, and even sexually aroused by the exploits of fictional characters.It seems altogetherinappropriate merein suchcasesto maintain thatourtheatre-goers ly make-believethat they are in these emotional states.8 Leaving aside Novitz's ratherodd groupingtogetherof amusement,fear, sexual arousalandso on, let us grant that Charles believes that he is actuallyafraid.Butgrantingthis does not weaken Walton'scase at all. For on Walton'stheory, it can be make-believedlythe case that A is in a certain state S even though A believes that he is actually S. The real problemwith Novitz's critique is that he, along with Carroll, takes Walton's references to "quasi-fear" and "makebelieve"to suggestthatin Walton'sview Charles only pretendsto feel what he does, and so is not actually moved. Similarly, Bijoy Boruah suggests thatin Walton'sview, "ourbeing movedby characters in fiction ... is not a case of really being moved."9Like CarrollandNovitz, Boruah argues that this is simply false: some of us, he claims, are really movedby fiction. The suggestion that in respondingto fiction we only pretendto be moved is extremely implausible;so much so, indeed, thatthe readiness of Walton'scritics to attributeit to him is somewhat surprising.Whatthese writersmiss is that the fact that Charles is genuinely moved by the horrormovie-the fact that he has the feelings and sensationsthatWaltonlabels "quasi-fear"is precisely what motivates Walton'saccount. By labellingthis kindof state "quasi-fear,"Walton is not suggestingthatit consists of feigned or pretended,ratherthan actual, feelings and sensations. (Indeed,it is hardto see whata "feigned sensation" might amount to.) Rather, Walton labelsCharles'sphysiological/psychologicalstate "quasi-fear"to markthe fact thatwhat his feelings and sensations are feelings and sensations of is precisely what is at issue. It is just wrong, then, to say that Walton "altogether overlooks the fact that an imaginative response to fiction can generate beliefs aboutfictionaleventswhich are capableof moving us-even though we know that the events portrayed in the work have not actually occurred."10 In fact, that an imaginativeresponse to fiction can generate beliefs about fictional charactersand events (in Walton'sterms, beliefs about what is make-believedlythe case) which are capableof genuinely moving us is precisely what Walton proposes. On his view, we can This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 50 actually be moved by works of fiction, but it is make-believethat what we are moved to is fear. In suggesting that it is make-believedly rather than actually the case that Charles is afraid, Waltonis offering a way of describingCharles's actual affective state so as to avoid distorting either that state or the concept of fear. He is not suggesting that Charles'sresponse to the green slime is merely pretendedor feigned, nor denying thatCharlesis actuallymoved. II Walton'stheory is to be understoodas an attempt to give us a way of characterizingour affective responses to what we know to be fictional that both capturesthe fact thatthese responsescan be (at least) very like emotions, and avoids violating the constraintsimposed on any such characterization by the cognitive theory of emotion. However, does the notion of experiencing emotions "make-believedly"have real explanatory value? We may begin to answerthis questionby takinga closer look at what, on Walton'stheory, makes it a make-believe truth that Charles is afraidof the green slime. Partly it is the fact that Charles experiences "quasi-fear"as a result of believing that make-believedlythe slime threatens him (FFEp. 14). However,factsaboutCharles are not by themselvessufficientto make it makebelieve that Charlesis afraid. In orderfor this to be make-believedlythe case, there must be an acceptedprinciplegoverningthe game of makebelieve that he plays using the horrormovie as a prop, this principle states that when Charles experiences "quasi-fear"as a resultof believing that make-believedlyhe is threatened,then it is make-believethatCharlesis afraid. Is it reasonableto assumethatsuch a principle is in fact recognized or understood to be in force? The first point to notice is that no such principle is publicly recognized. That is to say, there is no convention according to which if Charlesexperiences "quasi-fear"as a result of believing that make-believedlyhe is threatened, then it is make-believedly the case that he is afraid. However,Waltoncontends thatthere is a privately recognizedprincipleto this effect, and thatthis principleis recognizedby Charles,who: is simplydisposedto thinkof himselfas fearingthe slime, withoutdecidingto do so, whenduringthe movie he feels his heart racing, his muscles tensed, and so forth. It is just such a dispositionas this ... that goes with implicit recognitionof a principleof makebelieve. If a child is disposedto imaginea pie to be six inches across when he discoversthatthis is the size of a glob of mud, this makes it reasonableto regardhim as recognizing a principle whereby the glob's being that size makes it make-believethat the pie is also. (FF,p. 16) Hence, Walton argues, "Charles'stendency to imagine himself as afraidof the slime when he finds himself in the relevantmental state constitutespersuasivegroundsfor attributingto him acceptance of a principle whereby his experience makes it make-believethathe is afraid." Walton'sargumenthere is not convincing. If we are going to attributeprinciplesto Charlesat all, why should we not simply say that his disposition to think of and describe himself as afraid when he experiences quasi-fear constitutes persuasivegrounds for attributingto him acceptanceof a principle whereby this experience makes it actually the case that he is afraid? Waltonmight respondby drawingour attention back to the game of mud-pies. After all, surely the fact thatthe childrenare disposedto thinkof Sally's pie as larger than Johnny'sdoes not licence our attributingto them acceptance of a principle according to which if A has a larger glob of mud than B then A actually has a larger pie thanB? Indeed not; however, the two cases are not exactly analogous. For one need not be very sophisticatedto understandthat globs of mud are not actuallypies. However,one does need to be fairly sophisticated to know that Charles's statecannotliterallybe describedas one of fear, or that the statement "Charlesis afraid of the slime" is not literallytrue. Inasmuchas it would be illegitimateto assumethatthe childrencannot see the difference between pastry and mud, it would be illegitimateto attributeto them acceptance of a principle according to which if A's glob of mud is largerthan B's then A (actually) has a largerpie thanB. But since it would not be illegitimateto assume thatCharlesis not particularly well-versed in the philosophyof mind, it is far from clear that it would be illegitimate to attributeto Charles, on the grounds that he pre-reflectivelythinks of and describes himself as afraid of the slime, acceptance of a (fal- This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 51 Neill Fear, Fiction and Make-Believe lacious) principle according to which his experience of "quasi-fear"makes him (actually) afraid.It is certainlypossible thatin doing so we should be under-estimatingCharles. However, the alternative that Walton advocates-attributing to Charles acceptance of a sophisticated principle of make-believe-runs a far greater risk of over-estimatinghim. I suggest, then, thatthereare no good grounds for attributingto Charlesacceptanceof a principle accordingto which his experience makes it make-believedlythe case that he is afraid. And given thatsuch a principlemustbe understoodto be in force in orderfor it to be make-believethat Charles is afraid, it would appearthat we must conclude that it is no more make-believedlythe case than it is actually the case that Charles is afraid. However, this conclusion would be too hasty. For while I thinkthatthe argumentI have offered shows that Walton'stheory is not convincing as it stands, the theory may nonetheless be valuable if recast as prescriptive ratherthan descriptive in form. Although no principle according to which Charles'sexperience makes it make-believedlythe case that he is afraid is in fact either publicly or privately recognized as being in force, perhaps we should understand Walton'saccount as recommendingthat such a principlebe adopted. If it were, we should have availableto us a new vocabulary-as spelled out by Walton-in which to describe and discuss a set of responses and psychological states which have proved extremely difficult to describe or classify adequatelyin our existing language of mind and emotion. In consideringthis proposal, Ockhamistconsiderationsshould remain to the fore: is the vocabulary that Walton offers us of sufficient explanatory value to justify its adoption? On Walton's theory, part of what makes it make-believethat Charles is afraidof the green slime is the fact that his "quasi-fear" results from his belief that make-believedly he is in danger from or threatenedby the slime. In a footnote, Waltonwrites: One can't help wondering why Charles'srealization that make-believedlyhe is in dangerproduces quasifear in him, why it brings abouta state similarto real fear, even though he knows he is not really in danger. This is important,but we need not speculate about it here. For now we need only note that Charles'sbelief does result in quasi-fear, however this fact is to be explained. (FF, p. 14, n. 10) This is much too quick. We do, I think, need to speculateaboutthis matter,for the causal background of the feelings and sensations that one experiences in respondingto a work of fiction plays a crucialrole in Walton'saccount. And the claim that Charles's "quasi-fear"is caused by his belief that it is make-believedlythe case that he is in dangerfrom the slime is, on the face of it, most implausible. To see this, suppose that I walk throughthe middle of a child's game of mud-pies, inadvertently stepping on little Johnny's carefully craftedglob of mud. Johnnyburstsinto floods of tears, and I realize (having in the past played games of this sort myself) that it is makebelievedly the case that I have just ruined a beautifulpie. Naturallyenough, I am somewhat distressed. However,shouldwe say here thatthe cause of my distress is my belief that makebelievedly I have ruined a pie? I think not, for there is a simpler and far more plausibleexplanation available to us: I am distressed because Johnnyis distressed,or becauseI havedistressed Johnny.Comparethis to the case in whichJohnny inadvertentlysteps on and flattenshis own glob of mud. Again, he is likely to be distressed at this, and again we might say-following Walton's theory-that the cause of his distress is his belief that make-believedly he has ruined his pie. But, again, there is a better explanation availableto us. Johnnyis distressednot because he believes that it is make-believethat he has ruinedhis pie, but ratherbecause he is makingbelieve that he has ruined it. The difference between Johnnyand me is that his standpointis internalto the game, mine is external. Fromthe external standpoint,one has beliefs about what is make-believedlythe case relativeto the game. Fromthe internalstandpoint,one makes-believe. Comparethe child playing "monsters"with his father. I walk in on the scene, realize what is going on, and stay to see how the game progresses. One of the crucial differencesbetween me and the child is that I know (I believe) that make-believedlythe child is being stalkedby a ferocious monster;the child makes-believethat he is being so stalked. This difference explains why it is that our responses differ; while he experiences "quasi-fear,"I am merely amused, This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 52 or indifferent. My standpointis external to the game; the child's standpointis internal.II In claiming that Charles's "quasi-fear" is caused by his belief that it is make-believethat he is threatened,Waltonis in effect suggesting that Charles'sstandpointis externalto the game of make-believehe plays using the horrormovie as a prop, as my standpointis external to the games in the examples above. It is this that makes the fact that Charlesexperiences "quasifear"mysterious-just as it wouldbe mysterious if I, watchingthe child playing "monsters"with his fatherand believingthatit is make-believedly the case that he is being attackedby a monster, were to become concerned for his safety. Despite what Walton actually says, however, his accountimplies thatCharles'sperspectiveon the game is not externalbutinternal(or perhapsthat it is both). As we have seen, the theoryholds that we are to understandCharlesas playing a game of make-believeusing the movie as a prop. And to be playing a game of make-believe-as opposed to merely observingit-is to havean internal perspective on it. Once we recognize that Charles'sstandpointis internal, and thus thathe makes-believethat he is threatenedby the slime ratherthanmerelybelievesthatit is make-believe that he is threatened, the mystery as to why Charlesexperiences "quasi-fear"dissolves. We should not be content, then, as Walton suggests thatwe should, with simply noting that Charles's"quasi-fear"resultsfrom his believing thatmake-believedlyhe is threatened.There is a far more plausible explanation available to us: Charles's"quasi-fear"results from his makingbelieve that he is threatened.Thus Walton'saccount of what makes it make-believedlythe case that Charlesis afraidof the green slime needs to be modifiedas follows: Make-believedly,Charles is afraid of the slime if his making-believethat he is threatenedby or in danger from it causes him to experience "quasi-fear."However,while this modification gives us a more satisfactory formulationof whatconstitutes"make-believedly fearing" something than does the original, it also threatensthe scope of the theory as a whole. Walton suggests that his treatmentof Charles's response to the slime "can serve as a model for understandingother psychological attitudesostensibly directed toward fictional things" (FF, p. 21). Thus he suggests that "envy," "pity," "concern"and "hatred"for fictional characters should all be understood,like Charles's"fear," as "make-believeemotions." But if the account of "make-believe fear" is modified as I have suggested thatit mustbe, then it cannotserve as a model for understandingall the other psychological attitudesthatWaltonmentions. It should be noticed that one important difference between "fearing"the slime and "pitying"Winnie Verloc (say) is that it is at least plausibleto hold thatfear necessarilyinvolves feelings and sensations (Walton's"quasi-fear").I have arguedthat we haveto understandCharlesas making-believe that he is threatenedin orderto explain the fact thathe experiences"quasi-fear."However,there may be no such requirementwhen it comes to my "pity" for Winnie Verloc, for this response, like pity in general, need not involve any physiological aspect at all. (Whichis not to say thatit never does.) This is even clearer in the case of envy: just as actual envy need not involve any physiological element, so my "envying"Superman his powers or Sherlock Holmes his analytical skills need not involve any "quasi-envy." Thus we may not need to understandpeople as making-believethat Supermanis powerful, or that Winnie has a miserable time, in order to explain their responsesto these characters.Furthermore,we should recall here that in orderto make it make-believedly the case that he is threatenedby the slime, Charlesmust enter into a game in which he uses the workas a prop: he must make-believethat he is threatened.However, we do not haveto do anythingat all to make it make-believedlythe case that Winnie Verloc suffered or that Supermanis powerful. These make-believe truths are generated simply by what Tolstoy and various writers for Marvel Comics have written. I have arguedthatWalton'saccountof what it is for it to be make-believethatsomeone is afraid stands in need of modification;and furtherthat when it is modified in the way that I have suggested it mustbe, the accountno longerprovides us with a model for understandingcertain other sorts of affectiveresponseto whatwe know to be fictional, such as those we may be inclined to characterizein terms of pity or envy. However, there is a furtherreason why even the modified version of Walton'saccount of our affective responses to what we know to be fictional is ultimately unsatisfactory.Forjust as an analysis of the concept of fear must, if it is to have real This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 53 Neill Fear, Fiction and Make-Believe explanatoryvalue, allow us to distinguish fear from other emotions, so an account of what constitutes make-believedly fearing something mustallow us to say whatdistinguishesthatstate from others such as being make-believedlyanxious or angry or upset. I shall arguethatWalton's accountfails to satisfy this requirement,andthat it lacks the explanatoryvalue thatwould warrant its acceptance. In arguingthat "what makes it make-believe thatCharlesis afraidratherthanangryor excited or upset is the fact thathis 'quasi-fear'is caused by the belief that make-believedlyhe is in danger" (FF,p. 14), WaltonrecognizesthatCharles's "quasi-fear"by itself is not sufficient to make it make-believedlythe case that Charles is afraid. One reasonfor this is thatthe feelings and sensations that are typically associated with fear, and which constitute"quasi-fear," are not specific to fear. The same feelings and sensations may be involved in other emotions, such as anger, or indeed in pleasurable excitement, anxiety, or "upset." Realizing this, Waltonmakes it a necessary conditionof it being make-believedlythe case that Charles is afraidthat his "quasi-fear" is causedby his belief thatmake-believedlyhe is threatened.(Or, on the modified version of the account that I have advocated above, by his making-believethathe is threatened.)However, this stipulation,while clearly a step in the right direction, does not do the job that Walton requires. Make-believe and affective response to fiction aside, the fact that one experiences the feelings and sensations of "quasi-fear" as a result of believing that one is threatenedor in dangerdoes not entail that one is afraid. Again, one might equally well be pleasurablyexcited or angry. Hence the fact that one experiences "quasi-fear"as a result of believing that it is make-believethat one is in danger (or makingbelieve thatone is in danger)does not entail that it is make-believedlythe case that one is afraid. One might equally well be make-believedly pleasurablyexcited or angry. This difficulty in Walton'saccount has also been noticed by MalcolmBudd, who arguesthat "thetruthis thatone experiencesfearfor oneself only if one is distressed or made uneasy by the belief or the thought that one is in danger." Hence, Budd argues, Walton'saccount must be modified as follows: "Toexperience an emotion make-believedly is to experience the hedonic tone of the emotion (andperhapsits quasi-form) as a resultof the realizationthatmake-believedly a certain state of affairs obtains."'2 However, this modificationis, as it stands, of little help to Walton. The idea of the "hedonic tone" of an emotion is utterly opaque. On the one hand, it may be cashed out in terms of feelings and sensations. However, these are what Walton characterizesas "quasi-fear,"and we have already seen that one cannot give an adequate account of what makes it make-believe that someone is afraidsolely in termsof "quasi-fear" and making-believe(or believing thatit is makebelieve) thatone is threatened. On the other hand, the notion of "hedonic tone" might be plausiblycashed out in terms of desire. A strong case can be made for the view that fear differs from other states such as pleasurableexcitementand anger in that, unlike the latter states, it involves a desire to escape or avoid whateverit is that puts one in danger or poses a threat to one.'3 In order to satisfy the requirementthat an account of what it is to experience fear make-believedlymust allow us to say what distinguishesthis state from makebelievedlybeing anxious, pleasurablyexcited or angry, then, Walton'saccountmustbe modified so as to include a reference to desire. Thus modified, the accountmight runas follows: It is make-believedlythe case thatCharlesis afraidif (i) he experiences "quasi-fear,"and (ii) he desires to escape or avoid the threat involved, as a result of (iii) his making-believethat he is threatened. However, it is far from clear that Walton's account can be modified in this way. If Charles lacks any desire to escape or avoid the green slime, thenon this modifiedversionit will not be make-believethatCharlesis afraid.And according to Walton, Charles does lack any desire to escape or avoid the slime; indeed, it is precisely this fact that leads Waltonto deny that Charles believes that he is (actually) threatenedor in danger(FF,p. 7). However,if Charlesdoes have the relevant desire, then we can plausibly attributeto him at least a "gut-" or "half-belief" that he is (actually) threatenedor in danger. In this case, there will be no reason to deny that Charles is (albeit perhaps irrationally)actually afraid. The account which suggests that it is make-believedlythe case that Charles is afraid will simply be otiose. This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 54 It will be objected, however,thatI have failed to consider a furtherpossibility open to Walton. Might it not be that just as (on my modified version of the account) Charles makes-believe that he is threatenedby the slime, so he makesbelieve thathe desires to escape fromor avoid its clutches? If this suggestion could be developed convincingly, it would rescue Walton'saccount from the difficulty that I have described. If Charlesmerely makes-believethat he desires to escape from the slime, we cannot attributeto him any (even "half-"or "gut-")belief thathe is (actually) threatened.And if the accountcan be modified so as to includea referenceto Charles's making-believethat he has the desires characteristicof fear,then it will allow us to distinguish "make-believe" fear from other mental states which are to be describedwithinthe scope of the operator"Itis make-believethat . ..", andso will have the explanatoryforce that I have arguedit musthave if it is to be acceptable. Walton'saccount could be modified so as to specify thatfor it to be make-believethatCharles is afraid, it must be the case that he makesbelieve that he desires to escape or avoid whatever it is that make-believedly threatens him. However,it is not clear the account so modified will be of much help in describing our affective responses to what we know to be fictional. The difficulty is thatjust as we have no evidence to suggest that Charles actually desires to escape the clutches of the slime-he does not run from the cinema, alert the authorities,or anythingof that sort-we also lack any evidence to suggest that Charles makes-believe that he desires to escape from it. The only possible candidatefor such evidence would be Charles'sreactions to what he sees on the screen: the facts that he flinches as the slime oozes towardshim, thathis breathinggets faster,thathe clutches at the arms of his seat, and so on. However,these reactions do not constitute evidence that Charles is making-believe that he wishes to escape the attentions of the slime. 14 A comparisonwith pain and pain-behavioris useful here. Suppose that Sally suddenly flinches, winces and clutches at her stomach. All this counts as good evidence that she is in pain. It does not, however, count as evidence that she is pretending, or makingbelieve, that she is in pain. In order for Sally's flinching and wincing and so on to lend any support to the hypothesis that she is making- believe that she is in pain, we need some further evidence to suggest that her behavior is faked; evidence that her flinching and wincing are actions ratherthan reactions, that they are done ratherthan suffered.15 In Charles'scase, however, we have no reason to suppose that his responses are faked, that they are actions rather thanreactions,doneratherthansuffered.Charles's responses to what he sees on the screen do not constitute evidence that he is making-believe thathe desires to escape from the slime. CompareCharleswiththe childplaying"monsters" with his father. From the fact that the child keeps coming back for more, we can infer thathe does not actually desire to escape. Given thatwe have this knowledgeabouthim, some of his behavior-his delighted screamingand running into the next room when the "monster" lunges at him, for example-may count as evidence thathe is making-believethathe desires to escape. This child would satisfy the latest of the modified versions of Walton's account that I have proposed above: he experiences "quasifear," and makes-believethat he desires to escape, as a resultof his making-believethathe is threatened.It is importantto notice that in this case the evidencethatwe havefor supposingthat the child makes-believethat he wants to escape is what he does. A spectatorat a horrormovie may give us similar reason to believe that he is making-believe that he desires to escape. He may turn to his neighborwith a delighted grin and yell "Hereit comes! Let's get out of here!," for example. Such a spectatorwould, like the child playing "monsters," satisfy the latest of the modified versions of Walton's account of what constitutesmake-believedlyfearing something. However, such a spectatorwould be far from typical: Charles, for one, is not so demonstrative.And what we requirehere is a convincing means of describingthe responsesof typical readers and spectators of fiction. If Walton's theory-even when modified in the ways that I have arguedit must be if it is to have any chance of success-can explain only those readersand spectatorswhose responsesto fiction are similar to those of a child playing "monsters,"then it is of little help to us in dealing with the problem thatI outlinedat the beginningof this paper. I suggest that we have no reason to suppose that Charles does in fact make-believethat he desires to escape or avoid the slime. This con- This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 55 Neill Fear, Fiction and Make-Believe clusion is extremely damaging to Walton'stheory. Forif Charlesdoes not make-believethathe desires to avoid the slime, then there is no more reason to say that make-believedly Charles is afraid than there is to describe him as makebelievedly angry with the slime, or makebelievedly anxious about it, and so on. Indeed, the problemgoes deeperthanthis. Forif we have no reasonto suppose thatCharlesmakes-believe that he desires to escape the slime, do we have any good reason to suppose that he makesbelieve that he is threatenedby it? Again, the only evidence that we have for supposingthathe makes-believethat he is threatenedare the facts thathe experiences"quasi-fear,"thathe clutches at the arms of his chair, that he utters the odd involuntaryshriek, and so on. All this is, once again, a matterof reaction ratherthan action: these are things that Charles suffers ratherthan does. And as reactions,these facts aboutCharles do not requirean explanationin terms of making-believe, any more than they do in terms of belief proper.For there is a simplerexplanation available to us: when Charles is in the grip of "quasi-fear,"he is in something like a state of shock-a statethatthe directorsof horrormovies are adept at inducing in us through the use of cameraangles, editing, music and so on-rather than in a state of (real or make-believe)fear. He describes himself as afraidbecause the feelings and sensations that typically go with being shocked and startled can (and in his case, as Walton describes it, do) feel very much like some of the feelings and sensations characteristic of fear. However, he is mistaken; and there is nothing more problematic about this than there is about my mistakenly identifying what is in fact the feeling of my belt-buckle pressing into my stomach as the feeling of a perforatedappendix. I have arguedthat Walton'saccountof what it is to experience an emotion "make-believedly" at least stands in need of modification; and that ultimatelyhis accountis unsatisfactory.Charles is neither make-believedlynor actually afraid. He is, rather,shocked and startledand alarmed by the movie. However,even if it is grantedthat Charles'sstate can be adequately described in terms of shock, we are left with the question of how we are properly to describe those of our responses to what we know to be fictional characters that we are pre-reflectively inclined to describe in terms of emotions other than fear. Our "pity"for fictionalcharacters,for example, seems likely to resist adequateredescriptionin anythinglike such terms. I cannot begin to address this question here. However,I hope that I have said enough to show that the account of what it is to experience an emotion makebelievedlythatWaltonhas offeredis not going to provideus with the answerto it. 16 ALEX NEILL Departmentof Philosophy TrinityUniversity 715 StadiumDrive San Antonio, TX 78212 1. Kendall Walton, "Fearing Fictions," Journal of Philosophy 75 (1978): 5-27. HenceforthFF 2. The classical statementof this view of emotion is in Book II of Aristotle's Rhetoric. More recent formulations include Anthony Kenny's Action, Emotionand Will (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963), and William Lyons's Emotion(CambridgeUniversityPress, 1980). 3. See for example Kenny, Action, Emotion and Will, p. 49; William Charleton,Aesthetics(London:Hutchinson, 1970), p. 97; Gilbert Ryle, The Conceptof Mind (London: Penguin Books, 1963), p. 103; and Malcolm Budd, Music and the Emotions (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), p. 128. (Most of the importantcontributionsto the recent debate on this and related issues are listed in the bibliographyof Bijoy Boruah'sbook Fiction and Emotion [OxfordUniversityPress, 1988].) Not all of ouraffectiveresponsesto fiction are throwninto questionby the cognitive theory of emotion; watchingJaws, for example, may make us (genuinely and unproblematically) afraidof real sharks.The questionhere is whetherwe can properlyspeakingbe afraidof the shark,or "shark,"on the screen. Jerrold Levinson convincingly sketches two ways in which what he calls "real-life emotions" may be involved in our emotional responses to fiction in his "The Place of Real Emotion in Response to Fictions," Journalof Aestheticsand Art Criticism,48 (1990): 79-80. 4. See for example Flint Schier, "Tragedyand the Community of Sentiment"in Philosophy and Fiction, ed. Peter Lamarque(Aberdeen University Press, 1983); and Jenefer Robinson, "Experiencing Art," a paper delivered at the XIth International Congress in Aesthetics, Nottingham, 1988. 5. For the purposes of this paper, I shall ignore various other strategies that may be adopted in response to the problemI have outlined. Forexample, it maybe arguedthat as the source of the problem lies in the cognitive theory of emotion, the solution lies in amending or abandoningthat theory. As far as I know, none of the contributorsto the contemporarydebate on these issues has adoptedthis strategy, and with good reason: the cognitive theory is highly plausible. Again, it has been suggested that our emotional responsesto what we know to be fictionalcan be adequately This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56 redescribedin terms of moods (see Charleton,Aesthetics, forexample);or in termsof emotions which haveobjects that we do believe to be actual: Dr Johnson, for example, suggests that "Imitationsproduce pain or pleasure ... because they bring realitiesto mind." Prefaceto Shakespeare'sPlays (Scolar Press Facsimile Edition, 1969), p. 39. Versions of the latter suggestion have also been advanced by Michael Weston, "How Can We Be Moved By The Fate Of Anna Karenina?(II)," Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 49 (1975): 81-93; Don Mannison, "On Being Moved By Fiction," Philosophy 60 (1985): 71-87; and Barrie Paskins, "On Being MovedBy Anna Kareninaand Anna Karenina," Philosophy52 (1977): 344-347. While these suggestionsdo capture important aspects of our emotional responses to fiction, I suggest, they cannot account for all such responses. Some of what some of us feel for AnnaKarenina(to stick with the time-honoredexample) is too focussed and "directed"to be describedas a mood; and we feel it for her, not for real people who may be more or less like her. (See also Colin Radford, "How Can We Be Moved By The Fate Of Anna Karenina?",Proceedings of the AristotelianSociety 49 [1975], p. 75.) The questionis, what is it thatwe feel for her? 6. Noel Carroll, "The Nature of Horror," Journal of Aestheticsand Art Criticism46 (1988), p. 56. 7. David Novitz, Knowledge, Fiction and Imagination (TempleUniversityPress, 1987), p. 241, note 2. 8. Ibid., p. 84. 9. Boruah,Fiction and Emotion,p. 66. 10. Novitz, Knowledge, Fiction and Imagination, p. 85. 11. Tobringthis idea of differing standpointsinto sharper focus, consider what will happen if Johnny, whose glob of mud is in fact smallerthananyone else's, announcesthathis pie is the largest. It is likely that the other children will protestat this; and it is importantto notice the formthattheir protestsare likely to take. First, they will show Johnnytheir globs of mud, pointing out the differences in size between their "pies" and his. If Johnnyis unimpressedby this demonstration, it will be clear that he has misunderstood(or perhaps is trying to alter) the rules or principles which govern the game. And at this point, the response will be somethingto the effect of "That'snot how the game works!" At this point, the game has been interrupted;the children have stopped making-believe. In explaining his mistake to Johnny, the participantshave changed their standpoint, or their perspective on the game, from the internal to the external. As one of the anonymousreadersof this papersuggested, this distinction between internal and external standpoints may illuminate the difference between "being involved" with a work of art and contemplating it with "aesthetic distance" or "disinterestedness." Working out just how would requireanotherpaper; the results, I suspect, would lend support to Walton's views about the role of makebelieve in our engagementwith worksof art (thoughnot to the notion of "experiencingemotions make-believedly"). 12. Budd, Musicand the Emotions,p. 130. 13. William Lyons, for example, argues that "there is a conceptual tie-up, though not a logical one, between 'x is dangerous'and 'a want to avoid or be rid of x', and ... this tie-up forms partof the very concept of fear." Lyons, Emotion, p. 94. 14. These reactionsmight be thoughtof as "tendencies" or "inclinations"to avoid or escape the slime; as a sort of "proto-desire"to escape. If a plausiblecase could be made to this effect, then it would also support the view that Charlesis actually, ratherthanmake-believedly,afraidof the slime. It might also be argued, in defense of Walton, that these reactionsmakeit make-believethatCharlesdesires to escape or avoid the slime. However,this could only be so in virtue of a furtherrule or principleof the game thathe plays using the movie as a prop, stating that "when Charles reacts/ behaves in the following sorts of way ... then it is makebelieve that he desires to escape whateverit is that makebelievedlythreatenshim." But as I arguedearlier,thereis no such rule in operation,and the availabilityof way of describing Charlesthat I advocatebelow suggests that there is no good reasonto adoptone. 15. See Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigationspara. 580: "An 'innerprocess'standsin need of outwardcriteria." I wouldaddthatan activeor deliberateinnerprocess, such as making-believe,standsin need of outwardcriteriaof activity and deliberation. 16. It is an understatementto say that I am indebtedto Aaron Ridley, who has borne with me throughendless discussions of Walton'swork on fiction, and who commented on severalearlier drafts of this paper.I am also grateful to Kendall Walton, and to two anonymousJAACreaders, for commentson an earlierdraft. This content downloaded from 137.49.120.96 on Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:49:41 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions