This paper defends the cognitive value of art by analyzing the role of perspectival imagination in the appreciation of fictional narratives. Against the anti-cognitivist challenge posed by Peter Lamarque(2006) that cognitive value is irrelevant to artistic value, I argue that perspectival imagination is both essential to the practice of appreciating fictional narratives and a source of genuine cognitive value. Drawing on Elisabeth Camp(2017)'s account of perspective as an "open-ended disposition", I distinguish two modes of perspectival imagination: imagination oriented toward the work-world, and imagination oriented toward fictional characters. Both are argued to be indispensable for adequate comprehension of fictional narratives, and thus constitutive of their artistic value. I then examine imaginative resistance as evidence that appreciators continuously evaluate the perspectives they occupy during engagement with fiction. Finally, I argue that both empathy and imaginative resistance, as manifestations of perspectival imagination, yield cognitive value: enabling appreciators to interpret unfamiliar viewpoints, reflect on their own perspectives, and develop a richer understanding of human experience.
