Counterfactual Narrative Explanation.

It is possible to reconcile the cognitive function of literature with the status of fiction by mapping out an epistemology of interpretation. Interpretation resembles scientific explanation in that it is concerned with laws. Both interpretation and scientific explanation depend on tuning patterns of salience by representing paradigm scenarios and their relationship to ceteris paribus generalizations. In this context, a Kantian parallel between the interplay of sensory, emotive, and conceptual capacities in cognition and aesthetic experience can be drawn. To account for the status of fiction, interpretive activity can approached as a form of counterfactual thinking.