Q&A #4: Question One

The first question I had in regards to the relationship between emotion and literature is that if we take the thought theory that emotions are reactions to thoughts, and we consider thoughts to be real, what does that say about the nature of a fictional character? It would seem that a fictional character under this concept would be considered real, and thus the paradox of why we respond to an unreal entity is resolved. However does this mean that our conception of fiction which we discussed predominantly as seperating the real from the fictitious need amednding? The role that truth played in fiction was a highlighted aspect, and perhaps while the idea of a character may be real, the truth is not in their existence but rather in the qualities attributed to them (height, weight, hair color, styles of speech etc). being real. I am interested to see what some of you think about our understanding of fiction, if we do consider that thoughts are real and thus the ideas of fictional characters actually exist.