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The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds

Rob Fraser Orcid Logo

Metaphysics, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Pages: 85 - 98

Swansea University Author: Rob Fraser Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.5334/met.156

Abstract

What is the ontological status of virtual worlds? The two prominent positions in the recent debate are David Chalmers’s virtual digitalism and Neil McDonnell and Nathan Wildman’s virtual fictionalism. In this paper, I argue that there are good reasons to be dissatisfied with both. To overcome their...

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Published in: Metaphysics
ISSN: 2515-8279
Published: Ubiquity Press, Ltd. 2024
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68392
first_indexed 2024-11-29T13:46:47Z
last_indexed 2025-01-13T20:34:29Z
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spelling 2025-01-13T13:41:22.6487892 v2 68392 2024-11-29 The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215 0000-0002-1475-1863 Rob Fraser Rob Fraser true false 2024-11-29 SOSS What is the ontological status of virtual worlds? The two prominent positions in the recent debate are David Chalmers’s virtual digitalism and Neil McDonnell and Nathan Wildman’s virtual fictionalism. In this paper, I argue that there are good reasons to be dissatisfied with both. To overcome their limitations, I propose a novel position, virtual socialism. Drawing on the ‘two-dimensional’ approach to social ontology articulated by Brian Epstein, I suggest that virtual objects are social objects grounded in the states of a computer, but ‘anchored’ by a variety of social and non-social factors. Virtual socialism, I suggest, makes the best sense of the messy relationship virtual reality bears to digital reality, as well as the fact that virtual reality can sometimes be inconsistent. Journal Article Metaphysics 7 1 85 98 Ubiquity Press, Ltd. 2515-8279 virtual reality; realism; fictionalism; social ontology 25 11 2024 2024-11-25 10.5334/met.156 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University Other The Paul Schmitt Foundation pad for the publishing costs. 2025-01-13T13:41:22.6487892 2024-11-29T11:43:59.8831748 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations Rob Fraser 0000-0002-1475-1863 1
title The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
spellingShingle The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
Rob Fraser
title_short The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
title_full The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
title_fullStr The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
title_full_unstemmed The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
title_sort The Social Reality of Virtual Worlds
author_id_str_mv b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215
author_id_fullname_str_mv b672bd356b55dba1f5d104300a083215_***_Rob Fraser
author Rob Fraser
author2 Rob Fraser
format Journal article
container_title Metaphysics
container_volume 7
container_issue 1
container_start_page 85
publishDate 2024
institution Swansea University
issn 2515-8279
doi_str_mv 10.5334/met.156
publisher Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Politics, Philosophy and International Relations
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description What is the ontological status of virtual worlds? The two prominent positions in the recent debate are David Chalmers’s virtual digitalism and Neil McDonnell and Nathan Wildman’s virtual fictionalism. In this paper, I argue that there are good reasons to be dissatisfied with both. To overcome their limitations, I propose a novel position, virtual socialism. Drawing on the ‘two-dimensional’ approach to social ontology articulated by Brian Epstein, I suggest that virtual objects are social objects grounded in the states of a computer, but ‘anchored’ by a variety of social and non-social factors. Virtual socialism, I suggest, makes the best sense of the messy relationship virtual reality bears to digital reality, as well as the fact that virtual reality can sometimes be inconsistent.
published_date 2024-11-25T08:36:45Z
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score 11.047501

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