Deflationism, realism, and fictionalism
Abstract
Frances Egan's Deflating mental representation gives a forceful defence of deflationism about mental representation. Deflationism is a form of selective realism: It is realist about vehicles of mental representation, but not contents. In this commentary, I will argue that deflationism is unstable. Ultimately, despite its attractions, deflationism threatens to collapse into either realism or (more likely) fictionalism.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Embodied and Extended Cognition
Philosophy and History of Science
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Mind & Language
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 526–530
- Publication date
- 1 September 2026
- Language
- EN