The Aspirational Importance of Fiction

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M buti: Fiction allows me to pretend like i could live as a lot of different people. It's not like i ask myself, how would she do this, or how would she respond? A and so so itin, i think, in a much a more fundamental way. fiction just broadens the metaphysical space in which we live.

Where do our deepest personal values come from? Can we choose those values? Philosopher and author Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago talks about her book, Aspiration, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Callard explores the challenge of aspiration--who we are versus who we would like to become. How does aspiration work? How can we transform ourselves when we cannot know how it will feel to be transformed? Callard discusses these questions and more in this provocative episode.