Hans Vaihingers Die Philosophie des Als-Ob: Pragmatismus oder Fiktionalismus?

Abstract

This paper is a summary of a course taught at the University of Trier in 2010. It aims to show that Hans Vaihinger’s philosophy of “as if” has been long neglected because it is alleged to be no more than a pale variant of a pragmatism à la James. This is misleading. Vaihinger offers an original reading of Kantian criticism which paves the way for fictionalism. Fictionalism is a very different philosophical tradition from pragmatism and has left a highly vibrant legacy in analytical philosophy.