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.g., ["xSherlock-Holmes]Baskervilles and ["xSherlock-Holmes]V alley , respectively.Though these intensional objects are not identical,they are counterparts to one another in much the sense of David Lewis s coun-terpart theory.Indeed, it is here among the intensional objects of our variousstories and not among the concrete objects that exist in, and across, different 7.10.ONTOLOGY OF FICTIONAL OBJECTS 165causally possible worlds that David Lewis s counterpart theory has its properapplication.It is the relativization of intensional objects in this way that explains theso-called incompleteness of fictional objects.There are many predicate expres-sions of English, for example, that can be meaningfully applied to humans butthat are neither affirmed nor denied of the character Sherlock Holmes in any ofConan Doyle s novels.Neither the formula In(A, [("xSherlock-Holmes)F(x)])nor In(A, [("xSherlock-Holmes)¬F(x)]) will then be true of the concept (asa value of F ) that such a predicate might stand for, in order words, regardlesswhich of Conan Doyle s novels we consider as a value of A ; and therefore, nei-ther ["xSherlock-Holmes]A(F) nor ["xSherlock-Holmes]A([»x¬F(x)]) willbe true as well which is to say that, in the story A, the character SherlockHolmes falls under neither the concept F nor its complement, and is, therefore, incomplete in that regard.Alexius Meinong s impossible objects, when construed as fictional charactersor objects (or as intensional objects of someone s belief-space), are also incom-plete in this way.28 Thus, whereas The round square is round and squareis false as a form of direct discourse, nevertheless, it could be true in a givenfictional context.Suppose, for example, we construct a story called, Romeo andJuliet in Flatland, which takes place in a two-dimensional world (Flatland) ata time when two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are having a feud.In Flatland, the Capulets, one of whom is Juliet, are all circles, and the Mon-tagues, one of whom is Romeo, are all squares.(Juliet has curves and Romeohas angles.) Unknown to the two families, Romeo and Juliet have an affair anddecide to live together in secret.In time, Juliet becomes pregnant and, giventhe difference in genetic makeup between Romeo and herself, she gives birth toa round square.Although Romeo and Juliet both love their baby, the roundsquare, the two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, become enraged whenthey discover what has happened.They kill Romeo and Juliet, and their baby,the round square.But, not wanting it to be known that a round square which,given the cruel social mores of Flatland society, would have been considered amonster was born into either family, the Montagues and Capulets keep thebirth, and death, of the round square a secret.They then pass it around thatRomeo and Juliet were ill-starred lovers who committed suicide in despair of theopen hostility between their respective families.The story ends with Romeo andJuliet being eulogized and buried together but without their baby, the roundsquare, whose body was cremated and reduced to ashes.As this story makes clear, we can meaningfully talk about impossible objects as if they were actual objects although such talk can be true onlywhen relativized to a context of indirect discourse, such as a story, and perhapsthe belief-space of someone with inconsistent beliefs.Thus, for example, as partof the story, Romeo and Juliet in Flatland, it is true to say that the round square28See Meinong 1904.Also, see Parsons 1980 for a logical reconstruction of Meinong s on-tology and Cocchiarella 1982 for a discussion of Parson s reconstruction and an alternativeaccount to Meinong s ontology. 166 CHAPTER 7.THE NEXUS OF PREDICATIONis round and square, which, formally, can be represented as follows:In(R&J-in-Flatland, [("1xSquare/Round(x))[»xRound(x) '" Square(x)](x)]).Thus, even though both["1xSquare/Round(x)]([»xRound(x)]),and["1xSquare/Round(x)]([»xSquare(x)]),are false regarding the intensional content of The round square simpliciter,nevertheless, both["1xSquare/Round(x)]R&J-in-Flatland([»xRound(x)]),and["1xSquare/Round(x)]R&J-in-Flatland([»xSquare(x)]),are true of the intensional content of The round square relativized to thestory, Romeo and Juliet in Flatland.Nevertheless, as an object of a fictional,intensional world as opposed to the objects of the actual world of nature suchan impossible object will be incomplete with respect to the different kindsof things that are in fact said of it in its fictional world.It is in this way thatconceptual realism is able to explain the incomplete and impossible objectsof Meinong s theory of objects.297.11 Summary and Concluding Remarks" In conceptual realism the nexus of predication is what accounts for theunity of a speech or mental act that is the result of jointly exercising a referentialand predicable concept." A unified account of both general and singular reference can be given interms of this nexus.Such a unified account is possible because the category ofnames includes both proper and common names." A unified account can also be given in terms of this nexus for predicateexpressions that contain abstract noun phrases, such as infinitives and gerunds." The same unified account also applies to complex predicates containingquantifier phrases as direct-object expressions of transitive verbs, such as thephrase a unicorn in Sofia seeks a unicorn.Conceptually, the content of sucha quantifier phrase and the referential concept it stands for is object -ifiedthrough a double reflexive abstraction that first generates a predicable conceptand then the content of that concept by deactivation and nominalization.Alldirect objects of speech and thought are intensionalized in this way so that aparallel analysis is given for Sofia finds a unicorn as for Sofia seeks a unicorn
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