Vladimir_Nesov comments on (Moral) Truth in Fiction? - Less Wrong

17 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 09 February 2009 05:26PM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 11 February 2009 12:48:22AM 0 points [-]

Well, my point is that fiction isn't argument at all, it's a theme for musing on your own questions. It's sometimes useful to read even something you know to be wrong, on a theme interesting for you, written by a thoughtful author. You don't expect to move towards agreement, you know the stuff is wrong, but you can light sparks of your own insight off its pages. When given a mathematical proof, its correctness is for you to appraise. Fiction gives you your own thoughts, take them or leave them.