31st January 2006, 11:45 PM
This is more a matter of honesty than integrity. For all we know he doesn't actually hold honesty as a value, in which case lying would still maintain integrity :D.
Not that I think that. I think basically he just was a little weak against some publisher's suggestions. He should have been stronger. I'm not saying he should have rewritten the book. I'm just saying he should have labelled it as fiction.
Also, there is a difference between writing the truth in a poetic way and just adding things that aren't true to a story. I've heard stuff regarding the nature of star formation told in a very poetic way that wasn't in the least bit misleading and fully accurate in the details. For example "We are the way for the universe to know itself" is a very poetic way of basically saying "humans are a part of the universe and are capable of attempting to understand how it works".
Not that I think that. I think basically he just was a little weak against some publisher's suggestions. He should have been stronger. I'm not saying he should have rewritten the book. I'm just saying he should have labelled it as fiction.
Also, there is a difference between writing the truth in a poetic way and just adding things that aren't true to a story. I've heard stuff regarding the nature of star formation told in a very poetic way that wasn't in the least bit misleading and fully accurate in the details. For example "We are the way for the universe to know itself" is a very poetic way of basically saying "humans are a part of the universe and are capable of attempting to understand how it works".
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)