Five orders about a problem of fiction, illusion and knowledge

Abstract

The article revises the epistemological status of illusion and fiction as fundaments of a vitalist theory of knowledge. It shows the relationships between the positions of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and Hans Vaihinger (1852-1933). These authors sustain the -very contemporary- idea that knowledge, akin to any other process that maintains us alive, is radically biological and not only cognitive. The article has the intention of ogin beyond the mere utilitarianism or pragmatism according to which these postures have been classified. It concludes that the problem of knowledge and truth must be remitted to an axiological dimension.