Abstract

What is it for something to be scary? I argue that being scary isn't a way something can be; rather, it is a way we can find something. I discuss what it is to find something scary and draw on that attitude that to explain what it is to believe that something is scary, and finally, explain what it is to say that something is scary. Along the way, I address why finding The Shining scary requires having seen it, but believing that The Shining is scary doesn't, and elucidate the notion of non-factuality at the core of scariness (and related properties, including aesthetic properties generally).

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