The Importance Of Literature Vs. Science :: essays research papers

The Importance of Literature vs. acquaintanceIf we lived in a world without literature, learning only the sciences,would we be the same nation? Does the human race need literature at all, doesit have any worth whatsoever except as entertainment? Do people genuinely learnfrom literature? These are all questions that divide the human race into twoseparate sections, those who believe in the power of literature, and those whosee it as free compared to the social sciences in its ability to teachus about ourselves. However we need not be so divided on this issue.Literature is as rich a teacher as science, but merely differs in technique.Literature offers knowledge to those that seek it, gives commence to those whounderstand it, and pleasure to those that love it. Science on the other handimparts knowledge, leads to experience, and gives pleasure to the few who loveit.Literature is just as varied and expansive as Science is. There arehundreds of styles, millions of authors, and thous ands of languages which makeup literature. Instead of different fields, as in science, there are differentgenres. Literature is often backed up by enquiry or first hand information,but can also be fanciful flights of the imagination. They are similar to theresearch, observation, and hypothesis found in science. Experiments can beperformed in both. A scientist could ask what if, and logically andscientifically follow his what if through. A writer could ask the same and usehis imagination, knowledge, and perhaps a little research, to elapse hisimagination. Literature and Science are similar.However they differ in some important respects. Science is an exactrealm of numbers and averages and measurements. The last time you pick out aromance novel, were there charts showing the Freudian prediction of the averagepersons love flavor? Literature does not have the same kind of exactness that isoffered by Science. But it does offer precision in another way. Literatureoften is the descrip tion of one or a few peoples lives in detail. It is fromthese dilate case studies as a scientist would call them, that we can learn.It is the argument of science that people are similar and thus scientificaverages do have some relevance to humans. Yes people often do share similarcharacteristics, and behave similarly if coming from the same society. And thus,a detailed insight into one persons life could give you an insight on the livesof others. In a way Literature allows you to live thousands of lives in a shorttime, and gain a little experience from each of them.