The Quasi-Real world of Fiction and The Cognitive Value of Literature in Roman Ingarden’s Philosophy of Literature

Literary works of art present us a fictional world in which the objects and states of affairs are purely intentional. These objects and state of affairs do not have a correlative in an ontic sphere that is independent from the work itself. However, that does not mean that the sentences in a literary artwork do not have any assertive power. The predicative sentences in a literary artwork assert something in a particular manner. Hence, literary works of art have a cognitive value. They say something to us about the world we live in, about our lives, our being on this world etc. But they do not teach us about the world in a straightforward way by referring directly to the extra-textual world. Rather they teach us by presenting us their own world; the quasi-real world of the text. In this paper I will try to reveal the particular manner by which the literary artworks help us to better understand our disposition through the world. I will achieve this aim by focusing on the structural and functional differences between the literary work of art and the factual work in Roman Ingarden’s literary theory