What does Tyler Cowen get right?

I like to argue with people I think are very smart and who have something intelligent to say. I do this for selfish reasons. I think I learn more when I challenge people who strike me as intelligent and who maybe even intimidate me a bit. I am onto Tyler Cowen right now because I want to use his arguments about stories to get a better grip on the way Jane Austen uses stories.

Here is the question I am going to start with. What are the strongest parts of Cowen's argument? Or, to put it another way, here I am a Jane Asuten fan and , therefore, a guy who puts a lot of weight on stories—who thinks stories (especially her stories) are important and good ways to understand life—what is it about Cowen's lecture that should most shake me up? I think there are two things. There is an epistemological argument and a moral argument.

Okay, some may want to bail right now so as to avoid anything that features the word epistemological. It's a simpler and more complicated word than it seems. The simple aspect is all we need to know to get going on Cowen. Epistemology is about knowledge. It's about distinguishing what we really know from what we just think we know.