ISSN: 2641-9130
Authors: Allen RT*
Like other ‘problems’ in philosophy, any pertaining to the possibilities of learning from philosophy arise from inappropriate presuppositions. In this case it is mostly that all knowledge must be explicit and supported by reasons and evidence. But most of our knowledge is tacit and he chain of evidence for evidence ad infinitum must be ended somewhere. Fictions, including literary ones, are widely used in used in life and the sciences to draw consequences practical and theoretical consequences. Literary fictions can go beyond purely factual knowledge to reveal how it felt to live at a given time and place; to engage the whole person, and not just the thinkers, in both the characters portrayed and also in the reader or listener; to bring important matters home to them, for the heart is usually more important than the head; to show the importance of models and authoritative persons; to illustrate and apply general principles; to reveal philosophical errors such that all action is sub specie bonum by creating characters explicitly intending to do evil for because it is hurtful, cruel or vengeful; to show that there is more than formal learning to what happens in schools, and how important it can be; and generally to give narratives of what life really is or can be, and not just the abstractions and statistics of social sciences.
Keywords: Examplars; Fictions; Learning; Philosophy; Tacit knowing
