Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ A philosopher explains how our addiction to stories keeps us from understanding history

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I hear a lot of educators talk about how stories are essential to learning, but I'm not sure I agree, and it's not clear they help. Indeed, according to this article, our preference for stories might be misleading us. "These historical narratives seduce you into thinking you really understand what's going on and why things happened, but most of it is guessing people's motives and their inner thoughts. It allays your curiosity, and you're satisfied psychologically by the narrative, and it connects the dots so you feel you're in the shoes of the person whose narrative is being recorded. It has seduced you into a false account, and now you think you understand." Real explanations "involve models and hypotheses that are familiar in structure to the kind that convey explanation in the natural sciences."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 5:16 p.m.

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