A Tropist Relational Account of Hallucinations

ABSTRACT

I propose a tropist relational account of hallucinations in which the subject stands in relation to an instantiated trope complex. Philosophers typically maintain that hallucinations lack appropriate ordinary objects, thus rendering a relational account, which requires an actual relatum, impossible. While ordinary objects are indeed absent in hallucinations, I argue that an actually instantiated trope complex is available and sufficient to account for the phenomenology of hallucinations. The main challenge for a tropist relational account lies in explaining how an actually instantiated trope complex can exist without being owned by any individual object. Drawing on Donald Williams's trope theory, I develop a tropist conception of instantiation that does not require a concrete particular or an individual as the property bearer. This conception of instantiation effectively explains the absence of apparently existing hallucinated objects.