Fiction is good for teasing out possibilities and counterfactuals, experimenting with different attitudes toward the world (as opposed to learning facts about the world), and learning to be cool.
On the other hand (and I speak as a person who really likes fiction), it’s possible that you learn more about the human range by reading letters and diaries—whatever is true in fiction may be distorted to make good stories.
Fiction is good for teasing out possibilities and counterfactuals, experimenting with different attitudes toward the world (as opposed to learning facts about the world), and learning to be cool.
On the other hand (and I speak as a person who really likes fiction), it’s possible that you learn more about the human range by reading letters and diaries—whatever is true in fiction may be distorted to make good stories.