The power of the imaginary
From Plato to Tolkien: the influence of fiction on our lives
🏷️ Categories: Literature, Creativity.
Fictional worlds shape reality.
From Tolkien's Lord of the Rings to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter universe, these worlds are an exercise of imagination that influences our real world and modifies our vision of the world. An unexpected reflection then arises....
Do fictional worlds exist, does Frodo exist, does Harry Potter exist?
You can't say “no”, because you can imagine them and they influence our world.
But if they do exist, how real are they?
The truth is that, although the worlds presented to us in literature are not “real” in the physical, tangible sense, they have a much more powerful form of existence than we imagine. Philosophy, science and fiction are intertwined: the imaginary can impact the real, and fiction is nothing more than philosophy.
Yes, philosophy. Philosophy is not just about big, boring books by old thinkers.
1. Fiction is a philosophical tool
The relationship between fiction and philosophy has existed since ancient times.
Plato's works of fiction remain. His famous Dialogues are a fiction in which he imagines his teacher Socrates debating with characters known to be dead at the time the dialogues were written.
Is philosophy then based on fiction?
I ask you again.
What if we had a ring that allowed us to be invisible and do whatever we wanted without being judged by others? This idea is from Lord of the Rings. Original, isn't it? Many centuries before, a gentleman named Plato, in his work The Republic, spoke of the “ring of Giges”, of a fictitious ring that made its wearer invisible.
Fictions arise from mental experiments based on this question, “What if...?”
What if a ring made you invisible? Would you behave just as well in society?
What if we could travel through space and colonize other worlds?
What if the speed of light were a universal constant and everything else were relative?
Incidentally, this last question is the one that explains Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
Is science then based on fiction?
Fiction is a means of questioning our world and the ideas that shape it.
Take the Lord of the Rings universe. The characters must face existential, moral and spiritual dilemmas. Through Frodo's adventures, Tolkien tells us a story about power, sacrifice, freedom and corruption.
The imaginary becomes a reflection on the real world.
2. The difference between science fiction and fantasy
Science fiction: “Making the improbable possible”.
Science fiction imagines universes where improbable things are possible.
Travel to other worlds is fascinating and, in principle, possible according to the laws of the universe. While we can aspire to travel to other stars, they are incredibly far away, which would require reaching impossible speeds, at least with today's technology.
That's the key, science fiction makes us imagine scenarios that could exist.
The writer Arthur C. Clarke said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. If we gave Cervantes a 21st century cell phone he would think it was magic. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that it was possible to send live audio and video anywhere in the world.
Science and technology are advancing, and what was once fiction is now becoming reality.
Fantasy: “Making the impossible probable”.
Fantasy plays a key role in this exploration of the real world.
Through impossible creatures, spells and alternative worlds, fantasy tells us how what is impossible, in the context of our natural laws, could take place if we alter or remove boundaries and laws of the universe.
George Orwell's 1984 is a political dystopia to reflect on the power citizens give to states.
The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, is a disturbing reflection on human identity and the dehumanization of a cold and apathetic society.
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez, is a reflection on the inevitable passage of time and the loneliness of a family.
They are reflections on alternative realities to our own.
3. Mythopoiesis or subcreation
Tolkien said that fictional worlds are not random, they are a subcreation.
Mitopoiesis or subcreation is what he called the act of creating a fictional world taking elements that reality gives us and, through them, we create something new. Fiction does not come out of nowhere, it does not generate itself. Writers give it qualities.
Although fictional worlds are not real, their existence depends on reality.
That is why the context of each author is so important for the world he or she can create. Their references, values, ideas, environment... All their fiction is linked to their reality.
4. The degree of reality of the unreal
Once again we have to use fiction to speak of the real...
Plato, in his work Sophist, wonders about the nature of the fictitious: if something does not exist, how is it possible to talk about it? How can something that has no existence, such as Frodo or Harry Potter, have influence in the real world?
Something peculiar happens here, reality is not something binary: to be or not to be.
It is a gradient.
The reality in which we live is completely defined by its qualities, but fiction only has the properties that its creator describes. It is not that it does not exist, it is that its existence is partial. For example, elves are not completely defined, we cannot determine neither their position in the world, nor all their qualities.
Does anyone know what the DNA of elves is?
What is the average life expectancy of unicorns?
You can't answer and that's the difference. The real world is full of qualities, but fiction is not. The best fictions are the most real, the ones that have a living world, one complete with properties.
Tolkien's subcreation is the key: creating a world saturated with qualities.
In the end, what is not tangible does exist and affects our cultures and societies.
Fiction is an escape and a philosophical and scientific tool to challenge the status quo and think of new possibilities. Although a dragon will never spit fire in the real world, its impact on a cultural level is immense. Fiction serves to think about what could be, what might have been, and what might someday be.
Reality is the most complete fiction of qualities, it has all the qualities we know.
And those that science has not yet discovered...
✍️ It's your turn: Did you know this close relationship between fiction and reality? Which fictional worlds have impressed you the most? Personally, The Foundation, by Isaac Asimov, is the one I liked the most of all.
💭 Quote of the day: “Not all who wander are lost.” Tolkien
See you on the next adventure! 👋 Maybe it will be more real (or not).
