To Raise Moral Children, Teach Literary Fiction

I have beliefs and desires. But, how do I know that you do or that those beliefs and desires may be different than my own?

The capacity to comprehend that others have subjective lives of their own is known as Theory of Mind, an ability that is critical to ethical living. Recognizing the inner lives of others goes to the heart of respectful living.

One method of improving the ability to understand others’ mental states is through literary fiction (https://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377.short). Literary fiction focuses upon characters more than plot and generally is complex. Psychologists David Kidd and Emanuele Castano found that those subjects given literary fiction performed better on affective Theory of Mind and cognitive Theory of Mind tests than those exposed to popular fiction and nonfiction reading.

This study is consistent with the insight of historian Lynn Hunt who, in Inventing Human Rights, contends that human rights gained footing in Europe with the spread of the novel. Through literature, she argues, readers gained the knowledge that people unlike themselves (peasants and servants, in particular) also suffered. They, too, were human beings.

If schools are serious about raising moral children, then attention needs to be paid to literary fiction. A moral education is less than half-complete without exposure to the subjective lives of others and reading good fiction is a terrific way to get understanding of others’ mental states.

Fiction that draws you in to the inner lives of others, a story that lets you see and feel the world through another’s eyes is as good an investment in society’s future as are the other subjects, such as science and math, that everyone recognizes as indispensible for a proper education.