11 - Dissembling

Summary

Chapter 10 argues that, after choosing between Stories and refraining from undermining too many of them, scholars should, occasionally, also dissemble. The point is that if all Stories are false and some of them are worse than others, we must choose and teach Stories that are less bad than the worse. But even those alternative Stories will be false, in which case scholars should take into account that even while they are promoting what they consider to be a better Story, it will not be entirely true. Some implications of this situation appear in works by Jill Lepore, Wilfred McClay, and William James.