Logics of Fact and Fiction, Where Do Possible Worlds Belong?

This paper appeals to features of systems of illocutionary logic to understand and explain the difference between factual statements and illocutionary acts, on the one hand, and fictional statements and illocutionary acts, on the other. Systems of illocutionary logic have two levels, an ontic level which explores features determined by the truth conditions of statements, and an epistemic level which deals with relations of rational commitment among illocutionary acts performed with statements. The truth of a factual statement depends on that statement's relation to the real world, while the truth-in-fiction of a fictional statement depends on whether an ideal reader of a work of fiction, one who accepts or asserts the fictional statements governing the story or story world, is committed to accept or assert the fictional statement in question. The same illocutionary logical system is used for both factual and fictional statements and illocutionary acts, but that system is construed differently in the two cases.