The Risk of Epistemic Loss Involved in Reading Fiction

Abstract: Fiction brings its readers cognitive benefits. Parallel to these are epistemic losses readers may sustain from acquiring false or implausible ideas and/or experiences. Within the framework of cognitive literary studies, this paper examines three textual factors that modulate the phenomenon of epistemic loss: (1) direct vs. indirect presentation of ideas, (2) their strong vs. weak assertion, (3) presence vs. absence of their justification. The discussion is illustrated with case studies of contemporary English-language novels by Jeanette Winterson, Ian McEwan, and Keri Hulme, which make controversial statements on the theory of evolution, AI's subjective experience, and the value of togetherness, respectively.