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There is a sense of ambiguity connected to a consideration of a work of fiction as being or not being philosophical. This vagueness pertains to the various definitions attached to the word 'philosophical' and the variation in ideas regarding that which counts as a philosophical work, position or thought. Therefore it would be beneficial to develop one specific view of how works of fiction can be philosophical.

The development of the contemporary fiction novel is traced from its beginnings in the twentieth century to newer forms such as Thomas Mallon's. His novels such as 'Dewey Defeats Truman' and 'Henry and Clara', are a form of historical fiction.

The novel 'Minus Time' presents contemporary issues through the eyes of a family living in Toronto, Canada. The issues tackled in the novel include animal rights, the environment, the growing influence of mass media and the intrusion of television into daily life. The novel is an example of the persistence of writers to present the world in their own viewpoints, despite the threat posed by other forms of communications on the book culture.

The postulation of the presence of an omniscient narrator in third-person fiction is unnecessary and the reasons advanced for postulating such a narrator are irrational. Third-person narratives are not a form of fiction with an internal narrator, and are easier to construct than authorial fiction. The characters, not the narrator, communicate with the reader in third-person fiction.

Works of fiction have both invented names such as 'Sherlock Holmes' and proper names such as 'London,' though the use of an invented name with a proper name in a sentence does not make that sentence meaningless. Though fictional works do not have standard proposition they have general proposition.

'Elizabeth Costello' by J.M. Coetzee is used to examine metaphor and fiction writing via Mr. Bloom's reflections in the cemetery and on the beach, focusing on the existence of what is figurative within what is real.