The Ontology of Stories

Abstract

This paper argues for the event view of the story. According to the event view, stories are the specific type of complex events. Another competitor is the content view, according to which stories are abstract contents. First, I explain the event view is an attractive option for narrative approach in philosophy. Narrative approach regards lives as narratives. We can understand this, considering lives as the same type events as stories. Next, I argue that the event view can explain the identity of stories. The same story could be retold in different media with different details. The content view has trouble explaining that. Finally, in the case of fictional narratives, retelling of stories is amounts to trans-work transposition of fictional entities. This position is quite simple and respects much intution.