[WikiEN-l] fictional categories

[Ray Saintonge]

Ian Woollard wrote:
> On 04/11/2009, Steve Bennett wrote:
>   
>> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Ian Woollard wrote:
>>     
>>> Schroedinger's cat very definitely is fictitious; it's not an
>>> experiment you can actually do and get an alive/dead cat that you can
>>> actually see, you would get either an alive cat, or a dead cat.
>>>       
>> I agree with the statement that it should not be in that category.
>> Essentially, because schrodinger's cat is not a cat.
>>     
> Schrodinger's cat is a fictitious cat that is in the Schrodinger's cat
> thought experiment.
>
> It is fictitious because it is not a factual cat; it is countrafactual.
>   
>> There is no notable fiction in which
>> Schrodinger's cat features heavily, for example.
>>     
> It is notably in "Schroedinger's cat" thought experiment.
>
> That's what a thought experiment is; it's a made up story about what
> would happen if you did X,Y,Z which is used to illuminate aspects of
> physics.
>
>   
I would be inclined toward keeping it in the category, but mostly 
because of subsequent references in works of science fiction.  In common 
usage there is a tendency to ignore the difference between "fictitious" 
and "fictional".  With reference to the original concept of 
Schrodinger's cat it is fictitious because it is imaginary; it is not 
fictional because it is not part of a work of fiction.

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