Yes, such sentences are a thing. Kendall Walton calls them “principles of generation” because, according to his analysis, they generate fictional truths (see his Mimesis as Make-Believe). Pointing at the sand and shouting “There is lava there!” we have said something fictionally true, in virtue of the game rule pronounced earlier. “Narrative syncing” sounds like a broader set of practices that generate and sustain such truths – I like it! (I must say “principles of generation” is a bit clunky anyway – but it’s also more specific. Maybe “rule decreeing utterances” would be better?).
Anyway, I could imagine naturally extending this analysis beyond make-believe games to etiquette. The principles of generation here would be generating truths of etiquette.
And then, if you like, you could follow a (small) minority of philosophers in claiming that morality is constructed of such etiquette truths! See e.g.: Foot, P., 1972. Morality as a system of Hypothetical Imperatives Joyce, R., 2001. The Myth of Morality Kalderon, M. E., 2005. Moral Fictionalism
Yes, such sentences are a thing. Kendall Walton calls them “principles of generation” because, according to his analysis, they generate fictional truths (see his Mimesis as Make-Believe). Pointing at the sand and shouting “There is lava there!” we have said something fictionally true, in virtue of the game rule pronounced earlier. “Narrative syncing” sounds like a broader set of practices that generate and sustain such truths – I like it! (I must say “principles of generation” is a bit clunky anyway – but it’s also more specific. Maybe “rule decreeing utterances” would be better?).
Anyway, I could imagine naturally extending this analysis beyond make-believe games to etiquette. The principles of generation here would be generating truths of etiquette.
And then, if you like, you could follow a (small) minority of philosophers in claiming that morality is constructed of such etiquette truths! See e.g.:
Foot, P., 1972. Morality as a system of Hypothetical Imperatives
Joyce, R., 2001. The Myth of Morality
Kalderon, M. E., 2005. Moral Fictionalism