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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8238940" data-attributes="member: 42582">This is wrong. There's a huge literature on this topic.Thought exists. It doesn't follow that the things thought of are real. Right now I'm thinking of Gandalf. My thought is real - an actual event just took place in my brain. (Or, if you prefer, my mind.) It doesn't follow that Gandalf is real, anymore than unicorns are. (Which everyone who read that sentence and understood it just thought about.)There are various ways of elaborating on what it means for something to be real, or exist. As [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] has pointed towards upthread, participating in causal relationships is a good test. My thought does - for instance, thinking of things sometimes makes me write them down or type them up.Gandalf, and unicorns, and the City of Greyhawk, do not participate in causal relationships.This is why exploring a gameworld is metaphor, whereas having the GM tell you what s/he is thinking of is literal. Only the latter can actually take place.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8238940, member: 42582"] This is wrong. There's a huge literature on this topic. Thought exists. It doesn't follow that the things thought of are real. Right now I'm thinking of Gandalf. My thought is real - an actual event just took place in my brain. (Or, if you prefer, my mind.) It doesn't follow that Gandalf is real, anymore than unicorns are. (Which everyone who read that sentence and understood it just thought about.) There are various ways of elaborating on what it means for something to be real, or exist. As [USER=6696971]@Manbearcat[/USER] has pointed towards upthread, [I]participating in causal relationships[/I] is a good test. My thought does - for instance, thinking of things sometimes makes me write them down or type them up. Gandalf, and unicorns, and the City of Greyhawk, do not participate in causal relationships. This is why [I]exploring a gameworld[/I] is metaphor, whereas [I]having the GM tell you what s/he is thinking of[/I] is literal. Only the latter can actually take place. [/QUOTE]

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