Which one of writing's three goals—to inform, to entertain, or to teach—should come first? This is the question I ask myself and try to answer as a thinker. Also, what does a reader do when they read a thinker's thoughts? Find out by reading on.
Let's look at the three reasons why people write: to tell, to entertain, and to teach. The second one is at the bottom of my list, even though it helps me reach the first two goals. Every great teacher knows this very well and isn't afraid to mix his lessons with relevant, funny, and interesting stories.
I think that the second goal, to enlighten, is more important than the first, which is to inform. To explain how I feel, I think it's best to point you to my book A REASON FOR LIVING, which is about both of these things.
Part of my book tells facts or theories about things like the human body, nutrition, and the evolution of the universe. This information has to do with how scientists think about reality right now. I'm just a way for it to happen. Now, I think that my role as a philosopher who tries to enlighten his readers is more important than my role as a writer who tells his readers about scientific facts and theories. There are two reasons for this.
My main reason is that I think wisdom is the most important thing, while knowing about the material world (its parts, structure, and how it works) is not as important, no matter how useful it is in everyday life. Science comes after conscience, because science can't give people a sense of what is good, right, or holy—in other words, moral principles. Science without a conscience is shown by the way bad companies destroy nature and break human rights by using, or rather abusing, their environment and their workers to satisfy their greed.
The other reason is that as a writer who tells people about scientific facts and theories, I am just a vehicle. It is not nearly as important as the role of the researcher, who drives the scientific enterprise with the help of high-tech equipment and skilled, scholarly, and smart observations and explanations.
On the other hand, as a philosopher who tries to teach his readers, I am, so to speak, in charge. Not only does it care about what makes life worth living and gives people a sense of purpose, but it also does more than just reflect the light of wisdom; it creates it by forcing people to think based on experience and study.
The truth is that my readers can think for themselves, too. They can be philosophers themselves and come up with their own ideas while discovering and judging mine. So, the light that shines through my book is there to help my readers see a wide range of important things they can think about to come up with their own well-thought-out opinions about. Since they can do that, I'd argue that they should.
