The Importance of Interest
In the detective short story “La muerte y la brújula” by Jorge Luis Borges, the detective makes the following observation to someone observing a crime scene and making uninteresting and unhelpful observations:
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menor obligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que la realidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero no las hipótesis.
[Translation: You will reply that reality has no obligation whatsoever to be interesting. I will reply to you that reality can dispense with that obligation, but not hypotheses.]
Detectives may agree with that, and researchers and intellectuals definitely should.
Usted replicará que la realidad no tiene la menor obligación de ser interesante. Yo le replicaré que la realidad puede prescindir de esa obligación, pero no las hipótesis.
[Translation: You will reply that reality has no obligation whatsoever to be interesting. I will reply to you that reality can dispense with that obligation, but not hypotheses.]
Detectives may agree with that, and researchers and intellectuals definitely should.
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