The emotional response in film enigma: A critic analysis of Walton's position on the Paradox of Fiction

Abstract

In this paper I try to tackle the problem of the emotional response in films. This problem centers in how the emotional response works in the context of film. I will try to do this in the framework of cognitive philosophy of film. This paper has three parts. In the first part I will analyze “The Paradox of Fiction” which claims that is puzzling that emotion in context of fiction is produced with no beliefs in what is happening in fiction. In the second part I will present Kendall Walton's response to the problem of the "paradox of fiction". His answer can be considered as the most influential and important response to the problem. In the third part, I will try to raise some concerns in his proposal and make some arguments against it.