Abstract This is an exploratory essay about epistemological horror, which can be understood broadly as horror fiction that engages with epistemological questions, and more narrowly as horror fiction that engages with questions about the boundaries of human knowledge. It is suggested that there are at least two interesting categories of epistemological horror. One relates to the question of what should and should not be known, while the other relates to the question of what can and cannot be known. These categories can be broken down further into the categories of Promethean, Cartesian, and Lovecraftian epistemological horror. After explaining and investigating these categories of epistemological horror, I briefly consider the idea that horror fiction has epistemological value. Throughout the essay, I offer some thoughts about the general nature of horror fiction and the alleged paradox of horror fiction.
Philip Atkins (Sat,) studied this question.