Does reading fiction make you a better person?

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This text is part of: "I would never send my kids to school" by Piotr Wozniak (2017)

Fiction can contribute to personal knowledge. Knowledge can determine behaviors. However, the concept of better person largely rests on inner drives and instincts that shape personality in early childhood. "Goodness" is more emotional than it is rational. For that reason, fiction hardly makes anyone a better person. It only amplifies natural tendencies and instincts. A racist will not bleed over "Uncle Tom's Cabit". He will mock it. A good heart will never be swayed by "Mein Kampf" (fiction).

If you ever hear of research saying "people who read a lot have better empathy", reverse the correlation "empathetic people read more".

Paradoxically, I claim that knowledge, good or bad or neutral, on average, increases goodness (see: Goodness of knowledge).

Incidentally, I flunked Literature in high school. I do not read fiction much. I believe compulsory reading in literature had a powerful contribution to that bad habit. I am a poor advisor in the subject of fiction!

See: Why I do not read fiction.



For more texts on memory, learning, sleep, creativity, and problem solving, see Super Memory Guru