‘Suspension of disbelief’: a coherentist theory of fiction

Why do we say that a certain fiction is good, or even credible? The paper discusses the issue of fiction acceptability or credibility, with reference to the literary and legal domains in particular. Coleridge claimed that ‘poetic faith’ involves a suspension of disbelief. If he was right, to be good a literary fiction must be credible. Literary credibility does not mean truth or truthfulness. The paper contends that it means, in some senses to be specified, coherence; hence it provides a coherentist theory of fiction which is checked against some literary and legal examples. Although the differences between these fictions must not be underestimated, the paper concludes that coherence provides a general account and justification of fictions and of our judgments on them.