Literature, the best art to tell the truth
Literature throughout history has had a key role in the development of humanity, ideas, opinions and thoughts have been expressed through this. Thus giving an opportunity to the authors to publicize what they think and know about the world through free expression. The merits that literature have had to this day are countless. But does literature play an important role in exposing ‘the truth’? Or are there other areas of knowledge such as sciences that are more suitable for something as important in the life of humans as is ‘the truth’?
According to the area of knowledge theory, the truth is the coincidence between an affirmation and the facts. There are 3 veracity controls which handle 3 different concepts about the truth. The coherence control of the truth, which establishes that it is true only if it is consistent with what we already know. The correspondence control of the truth, establishes that it is true if it corresponds to how things are in relation to the world, that is, reality. Finally, the pragmatic control of truth is based on establishing satisfactory relationships through an experience that proves that it is true. These 3 concepts will be applied to the arguments used and thus evaluate what is the best methodology to "tell the truth"
The literature being the art of verbal expression gives freedom to the authors to capture their truth and at the same time their knowledge acquired based on experience which gives certainty and veracity to their statements since these are verifiable. Such is the case of Alex Haley, author of roots, a novel that tells the story of Haley’s family in the course of 7 generations, since he sought to publicize the life of Kunta Kinte, a slave of which he is a descendant,thus exposing the reality of African slavery and racism over the years.
Despite being a novel, the author consulted political and social documents, traveled to the coast of Gambia, in Western Africa and interviewed people or descendants of people who had experienced that slavery and racism at the time to be able to give certainty and support him toHis work, thus narrating the harsh reality of African slavery at that time.
The author makes use of the pragmatic control of truth, since he tested his statements embodied in the work based on experience. That is, that it really happened. becoming what the work affirmed into a truth with certainty and verifiable through practice. A good way to "tell the truth" using the art of literature without leaving the objectivity of the situation narrated.
On the other hand, literature being an resource used by writers to capture their truths, is affected by biases that these same authors may have, are based on their beliefs, indoctrination, etc. That is, in a literary work the author will capture his truth and only his truth in a convincing and persuasive way for the reader. For example, in the Divine Comedy, a literary work by Dante Alighieri where he exposes his truth from his point of view about how after death would be for religion, thus narrating the journey of his alter ego through hell andPurgatory to finally reach the paradise or sky of which mention is made so much in some of the religions.
This is how Dante expresses convincingly and persuasively his truth which is based on his religious beliefs and doctrines. However, was this art as poetry is the best way to "tell the truth"?
Not being something real. That is, it cannot be proven, its way of “telling the truth” is not valid at all, thus giving zero certainty to what is reflected in the work, so it runs out of no argument and only as a workLiterary trying to be persuasive for the reader which, in the case of investigating beyond, the reader would realize that it is something illogical without sustenance.
Are there ways to give certainty to a statement? One of the most used methodologies in the science area since it is applicable for almost all cases and used to give certainty and check is the scientific method. A research method that will help us answer a scientific question in an organized and completely objective way. Allows you to confirm or refute a hypothesis in 6 steps. Observation (how things are shown in reality), ask (question something based on the observed) hypothesis (possible explanation or answer to the question), experiment (the hypothesis is proven the number of times necessary to be considered as anatural result), Analysis (the information of the result of the experiment is interpreted and organized and the conclusion is answered (the question is answered and the initial hypothesis is confirmed or refuted). In this way you can verify and give certainty to an affirmation through experiments and evidence which can be and can always be verified again. Due to the lack of certainty element, the most important because it is the one that confirms, is that Dante’s divine comedy and many other literary works that are governed by biases and subjectivities cannot be considered as an adequate way of "telling the truth"
In view of the fact that the scientific method is a much more reliable methodology before any method used to narrate some literary work, since it is verifiable, it can be questioned if literature is really the best art to “tell the truth”. Since literary works are affected by many filters such as the yes is affected by a bias, in case it has no support, in case they have arguments of authority or arguments based on the author’s indoctrination. Well, the area of sciences explains the opposite, since, through this methodology, without governing with confirmation biases or subjectivities is able to answer a question and check or refute a hypothesis, which can be verified through aexperiment, making it what was affirmed in a "truth" and therefore something real.
In conclusion, literature despite the power of "telling the truth" in its way as it was seen in the case of the root literary work, being seen from a general panorama of literary works, it can be seen that, in several literary worksAs the divine comedy, they are governed to tell "their truth" through biases and arguments which cannot be proven. Unlike the science area, which uses the scientific method, a method which can verify or refute a hypothesis through totally objective tests. Therefore, it is concluded that the most appropriate area to "tell the truth" are the sciences and that despite being an influential is not the art of literature the most apt.
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