Thinking about Wikipedia reading as fast food to semi-satisfy an appetite for knowledge. In young strivers: hunger to appear knowledgeable about as much as possible, as soon as possible. In YouTube essayists: hunger for facts to be regurgitated as content. But leaving reading at that leaves us vulnerable (picture the young striver getting "well actually"ed at a dinner party; the YouTube debunkers, a secondary creator economy).
Thanks. You have set out some vital pointers, correctives towards an agenda of self-awareness and expansiveness. Maybe, as a bedrock in terms of human understanding, if we delve into a philosophy of education, there are certain ideals which might be useful beyond ways and means.
Bertrand Russell, in his book, 'On Education' (1926) offers valuable clues. And whatever might underlie the practice of schooling/university also applies to our self-education, self-cultivation of knowledge? Russell highlights four ideals of individual progress here, 'which seem to me jointly to form the basis of an ideal character; vitality, courage, sensitiveness and intelligence. I do not suggest that this list is complete, but I think it carries us a good way. Moreover, I firmly believe that, by proper physical, emotional and intellectual care of the young, these qualities could all be made very common.'
Deploying his innate spirit of clarity and humane questing, Russell identifies some of the necessary educational work and its objectives:
'lf curiosity is to be fruitful, it must be associated with a certain technique for the acquisition of knowledge. There must be habits of observation, belief in the possibility of knowledge, patience and industry. These things will develop themselves, given the original fund of curiosity and the proper intellectual education. But since our intellectual life is only a part of our activity, and since curiosity is perpetually coming into conflict with other passions, there is need of certain intellectual virtues, such as open-mindedness. We become impervious to new truth both from habit and from desire; we find it hard to disbelieve what we have emphatically believed for a number of years, and also what ministers to self-esteem or any other fundamental passion. Open-mindedness should therefore be one of the qualities that education aims at producing.'
I also feel like there's a big cultural push toward validation which I think gives people the courage to follow those vibes all the way through. Unfortunately I think this movement is still in its infancy
Thinking about Wikipedia reading as fast food to semi-satisfy an appetite for knowledge. In young strivers: hunger to appear knowledgeable about as much as possible, as soon as possible. In YouTube essayists: hunger for facts to be regurgitated as content. But leaving reading at that leaves us vulnerable (picture the young striver getting "well actually"ed at a dinner party; the YouTube debunkers, a secondary creator economy).
Thanks. You have set out some vital pointers, correctives towards an agenda of self-awareness and expansiveness. Maybe, as a bedrock in terms of human understanding, if we delve into a philosophy of education, there are certain ideals which might be useful beyond ways and means.
Bertrand Russell, in his book, 'On Education' (1926) offers valuable clues. And whatever might underlie the practice of schooling/university also applies to our self-education, self-cultivation of knowledge? Russell highlights four ideals of individual progress here, 'which seem to me jointly to form the basis of an ideal character; vitality, courage, sensitiveness and intelligence. I do not suggest that this list is complete, but I think it carries us a good way. Moreover, I firmly believe that, by proper physical, emotional and intellectual care of the young, these qualities could all be made very common.'
Deploying his innate spirit of clarity and humane questing, Russell identifies some of the necessary educational work and its objectives:
'lf curiosity is to be fruitful, it must be associated with a certain technique for the acquisition of knowledge. There must be habits of observation, belief in the possibility of knowledge, patience and industry. These things will develop themselves, given the original fund of curiosity and the proper intellectual education. But since our intellectual life is only a part of our activity, and since curiosity is perpetually coming into conflict with other passions, there is need of certain intellectual virtues, such as open-mindedness. We become impervious to new truth both from habit and from desire; we find it hard to disbelieve what we have emphatically believed for a number of years, and also what ministers to self-esteem or any other fundamental passion. Open-mindedness should therefore be one of the qualities that education aims at producing.'
I also feel like there's a big cultural push toward validation which I think gives people the courage to follow those vibes all the way through. Unfortunately I think this movement is still in its infancy