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So, being unable to trace it, you don't really know whether studying Shakespeare, or other literature, affects your decision-making at all -- and if it does, ho

So, being unable to trace it, you don't really know whether studying Shakespeare, or other literature, affects your decision-making at all -- and if it does, how much. I agree that much of knowledge you pick up is something you can't trace. But do you get any from studying literature? On the other hand, I can think of plenty of ways reading books (and watching movies, etc) has changed my decision-making abilities. I could name examples. Likewise with playing sports, playing musical instruments, getting really sunburnt, interacting with old people, etc -- some of which I've spent less time doing. Studying literature, on the other hand, and finding out, oh, its themes are X, Y, and Z (because duhhh) making up some completely nonsensical psychoanalysis has not, in any identifiable way. There are other things you could do with your time. Is it better to study Shakespeare, or to watch reality TV?

Retra 11y ago
Studying Shakespeare is not "finding out, oh, its themes are X, Y, and Z (because duhhh) making up some completely nonsensical psychoanalysis." That's like saying studying math is "finding out, oh, number can be manipulated, and making up some completely nonsensical rules for manipulating them." It largely constitutes a controlled dataset. Like shooting at bull's eye's rather than random shit. > Is it better to study Shakespeare, or to watch reality TV? You have to do both to know that, don't you?
- SamReidHughes 11y ago
  But I'm not arguing that learning how to do math is useful for making decisions later in life (aside, obviously, from e.g. financial decisions that involve making calculations). I would argue that classes that study literature actually harm peoples' abilities to make decisions later in life. Letting people make pretend arguments without a testable standard of truth is a terrible idea. You can see people act in public today that do not care one bit about whether what they believe, or what they say, is true or not, and you can see them claim that there are "multiple perspectives" on matters that are, in fact, questions of fact. Some people are quite good at writing stuff in a way that gives them 2^n directions in which they might equivocate, should somebody argue with them. They are a product of this system.
  - selimthegrim 11y ago
    In your penultimate sentence you have in fact, hit the nail on the head. If you want to know how the politics of a society operates, the classes and praxis you are deriding are actually a pretty good way to find out.

Retra 11y ago

Studying Shakespeare is not "finding out, oh, its themes are X, Y, and Z (because duhhh) making up some completely nonsensical psychoanalysis." That's like saying studying math is "finding out, oh, number can be manipulated, and making up some completely nonsensical rules for manipulating them." It largely constitutes a controlled dataset. Like shooting at bull's eye's rather than random shit. > Is it better to study Shakespeare, or to watch reality TV? You have to do both to know that, don't you?

SamReidHughes 11y ago
But I'm not arguing that learning how to do math is useful for making decisions later in life (aside, obviously, from e.g. financial decisions that involve making calculations). I would argue that classes that study literature actually harm peoples' abilities to make decisions later in life. Letting people make pretend arguments without a testable standard of truth is a terrible idea. You can see people act in public today that do not care one bit about whether what they believe, or what they say, is true or not, and you can see them claim that there are "multiple perspectives" on matters that are, in fact, questions of fact. Some people are quite good at writing stuff in a way that gives them 2^n directions in which they might equivocate, should somebody argue with them. They are a product of this system.
- selimthegrim 11y ago
  In your penultimate sentence you have in fact, hit the nail on the head. If you want to know how the politics of a society operates, the classes and praxis you are deriding are actually a pretty good way to find out.