 The distinction between fantasy (imaginary) experiences and serious experiences concerns the act component. This distinction is a generalization of Meinong’s division of thoughts into assumption and judgements, which he introduces in On Assumptions (1902). Meinong, considering assumptions as a subclass of thoughts, places them “between representations and judgements”, as they are, like judgements, affirmative or negative; and like representations, without belief (1910; §§1, 59). Judgements are directed to objectives and involve conviction, whereas assumptions do not involve conviction — they merely involve entertaining the objectives they are directed at (1910: 376 [268]). Meinong realized that such an entertaining of objectives without conviction plays a central role in our intellectual and emotional lives. Asking questions, denying, reasoning, desiring, playing games, performing or producing artistic works would not be possible without assuming. In judging that A or B, for example, one does not judge A and B, respectively — one only assumes them. Fantasy and serious cases can also be found in the other kinds of experiences. If a representation of red has a perceptual look because a red-quale is involved, it is of a serious character, and if the red-representation is merely reproductive, that is, a recollective or imaginative one, it is a fantasy experience and so only of an imaginary character. Meinong’s application of the fantasy/serious distinction to all kinds of mental acts (including the affective and conative dimension) may seem schematic and controversial, but also leads to remarkable insights into phenomena like art and into understanding the role of emotions in writing and reading fiction, as empathic experiences and reception of art provide us with paradigmatic cases of fantasy representations, fantasy thoughts, and — especially — fantasy feelings. These are neither merely representations of emotions nor serious emotions but something intermediate between representations and serious emotions. In general, fantasy experiences are not imagined experiences as they are not merely representations of experiences. Adopting a differentiation of Mally (1912: 61–2, fn.) Meinong later even distinguishes between (1) serious-like and (2) shadowy fantasy experiences [ernstartige versus schattenhafte Phantasieerlebnisse]. A fantasy experience (e.g., an assumption) can be understood either (1) as a pretence of experiencing seriously (e.g., of making a judgement) or (2) as a mere entertaining of the object (e.g., an objective without a pretence of judging) (1917, §6: 47–53 [42–47]).