Abstract
Spoilers consist in the revelation of major plot points of fictions prior to the time at which we're intended to discover them. The small literature on spoilers argues that we dislike them because they have a negative effect on story enjoyment. I argue that our dislike of spoilers is wildly disproportionate to their actual effects on story enjoyment. The real puzzle of spoilers is why we dislike them, given their small and inconsistent effects on story enjoyment. I argue that the dislike of spoilers arises from a desire not to be subject to other agents in how we come to acquire certain kinds of knowledge about fictions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-11 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Philosophical Exchange |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 10 Nov 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2026 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- spoilers
- fiction
- experience
- epistemic autonomy
- Alon Chasid
- Neil Van Leeuwen
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