Passion-Based Learning

… and Relearning.

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.” - Mark Twain

Photo courtesy of WisDoc

What did you learn when you went to school? What usually happens to us when we go there?

Here’s what:

We get placed within a restrictive learning environment, one in which we get told what, when and how to learn. If you’re lucky enough to be living in a free democratic country, then at least you grow up getting taught democratized knowledge.

Democratized knowledge is the curriculum approved by the state to be taught in public schools.

In a democracy, the resulting curriculum is much more representative of the peoples’ wishes for what constitutes “truth.” (This doesn’t mean everyone ends up happy with it of course. In some parts of the United States for example, the debate on whether to teach evolution or creationism is still raging.)

On the other hand, in non-democratic countries, “truth” is what the unelected guy sitting on the throne wishes it to be. Sometimes when it’s really bad, you can’t even call the process education anymore. Indoctrination would be a better word actually.

I know this might be starting to sound like a political article but it isn’t. It’s about the independent pursuit of knowledge as we simultaneously unlearn and relearn things along the way.

Passive Like Empty Vessels

Too often around the world, students get treated like passive recipients, something which must be changed.

Thing is, whatever we learned in school as kids isn’t necessarily “knowledge” because it isn’t necessarily “true”. Moreover, we’re not given enough freedom of thought and choice to reach our own conclusions.

Thanks to the internet, things are changing.

Self-Initiative and Independent Pursuit

The internet has opened up the gates to a world of infinite knowledge where anyone can read about anything and everything. It’s not a biased state-designed curriculum. It’s open, it’s diverse and it’s free.

Leverage it.

One should independently pursue the journey for what he or she considers to be the “truth.” Ultimately, it’s about questioning, thinking and stimulating one’s own mind.

It’s about unlearning and relearning.

“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.” - Antisthenes

I’ve unlearned a number of things growing up. That includes my wrong perception of “others” and stuff related to religion.

What have you unlearned growing up?

In my article ‘The 3 “Secret” Reasons for Exploring What All Learners Desire‘, I said the following:

What Is Knowledge?

There is no easy, simple answer to this one. In fact there is no agreed-upon definition of knowledge. Truth is, I don’t believe there will ever be one. There could be such a definition… but only if we lived in a Utopian World.

That’s the slight irony of the situation – the desire we learners have to acquire something we can’t accurately define.

Picture Courtesy of Voss

Striving to understand the nature of knowledge is a beneficial thing which helps us become better learners. Let’s have a look at some quotes I like from great minds who shed light on the answer we seek with their profound wisdom. I can relate to what each of them say on a significant level.

1. A library may be very large; but if it is in disorder, it is not so useful as one that is small but well arranged. In the same way, a man may have a great mass of knowledge, but if he has not worked it up by thinking it over for himself, it has much less value than a far smaller amount which he has thoroughly pondered. —Arthur Schopenhauer, 19th-century German philosopher

Growing up, I held many opinions that I slowly but surely realized weren’t mine. I don’t even remember how they managed to get into my head. During debates and arguments, I found that I couldn’t defend them well and that’s when it hit me hard.

I couldn’t defend them because I didn’t think much about what I accepted and believed to be true. I never contemplated it. Over the past two years, thanks to the free flow of information online, I discarded a lot of ideas and relearned even more. I find that what I know now has much more value to me than what I regarded as the “truth” previously. It’s because of thinking and coming to one’s own conclusions.

2. A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.—Kahlil Gibran, 20th-century Syrian-American mystic poet and painter

This holds solidly especially in entrepreneurship. You can have some of the greatest ideas in the world but they’re all useless if not acted upon or at least propagated.

3. All men by nature desire knowledge.—Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher

We are all born with an inquisitive nature. This is inherently part of who we are but the systems and environments we grow up in sometimes tend to kill that great intrinsic property we possess.

Further reading: 3 Steps to Revive Your Inner Child

4. All wish to know, but none want to pay the fee.—Juvenal, 1st-2nd-century Roman poet

Learning is fun but it can turn into a pain whenever we encounter things we find difficult to swallow. Many just choose to become apathetic but those who persevere and burst through the thick wall find a worthy reward on the other side.

5. Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportioned to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.—Mark van Doren, 20th-century American poet

I’m not a father yet. Heck, I’m not even married, but I have read a few things about fatherhood. The information I consumed is safely stored in my brain but I can’t grasp its full meaning. I don’t have sufficient “skills” yet. The day I become a father, I will.

6. Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container. —Anonymous Saying

Knowledge is out there floating around the internet in infinite abundance. All it takes to find food for thought nowadays in this amazing Information Age we live in is a few clicks.

If you liked this post, please review it on StumbleUpon. I’d really appreciate. :)

Allow me to ask you a question. Why do we learn?

The most common answer I usually get is something along the lines of: “because we want knowledge”.

It’s a general answer, yet a very accurate one, because any topic you’re learning right now or wish to learn is essentially knowledge. We want to step out of the dark and hence we read our way into the glorious light. It’s that simple.

Now please allow me to ask you a second and more difficult question.

Picture courtesy of Focal Intent

What Is Knowledge?

There is no easy, simple answer to this one. In fact there is no agreed-upon definition of knowledge. Truth is, I don’t believe there will ever be one. There could be such a definition… but only if we lived in a Utopian World.

That’s the slight irony of the situation – the desire we learners have to acquire something we can’t accurately define.

Epistemology

Epistemology is the study that attempts to answer the Big Questions with a number of theories, each providing its own definition and perspective on what knowledge is. It is a complex but deeply interesting field that has kept many philosophers, from Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Ayn Rand to Confucius, Averroes and Avicenna, collectively very busy for thousands of years.

Over the centuries this vast field witnessed numerous trends which reflected the prevalent philosophical issues of the time. For example, ancient Greek philosophers like Plato viewed knowledge as an awareness of things that are absolute and universal, but later on knowledge would come to be seen by others as something that is actively evolving and continuously adaptive.

In order to answer what knowledge is, epistemology deals with questions like:

• what is the source of knowledge?
• how do we differentiate between “true” knowledge and “false” knowledge?
• how do we come to know what we know?
• why do we believe what we believe?

Modern debate focused on the above questions generally involves three main views fighting for domination:

Rationalism: knowledge acquired through the use of human reason and intellect.

Empiricism: knowledge acquired through experience and human sensory perceptions.

Revelation: knowledge revealed to mankind from a divine source.

To sum it up, epistemology is basically knowledge about knowledge. Learning about it is very beneficial for a number of reasons.

The 3 “Secret” Reasons

The following are the reasons for why it’s useful to explore theories of knowledge (feel free to add your opinions in the comments section).

Reason Number 1 - Healthier Consumption and Digestion

We all eat food. Without it, we die, and without the right types in the appropriate amounts, we harm ourselves. As a result, those who pay attention to what they consume are usually healthy individuals.

Knowledge is similar. Too often, we consume it uncritically, and even when we are critical, or think we are, we must remember that there is always room for improvement.

Besides healthier consumption, exploring the definitions of knowledge also makes it easier for us to spot patterns, relate ideas together and organize them more effectively within our minds. Furthermore, knowledge enhances our thinking, and without understanding what it is and how we acquire it, we can’t develop consistency in the way we reason.

Reason Number 2 - Better Understanding of the World

Epistemology provides valuable insights into the major questions of life and how they’re approached from the perspectives of different traditions. Therein is all the fun! :-)

The definition of knowledge from place to place and culture to culture can differ substantially. In some societies the emphasis is on rationalism while in others it could be on revelation for instance.

Getting to understand those diverse descriptions of knowledge provides valuable insights into the world views of other people and how they approach life. It broadens the mind and makes us more understanding towards each other. Consider it a form of traveling and heavy immersion.

Reason Number 3 - Easier Foundational Tracing

Delving into epistemology also enables learners to trace the ideas of a person back to their philosophical sources with better accuracy and hence provides a useful context which identifies where the propagator of the idea is coming from.

This act of contextualizing through foundational tracing adds extra value to the content we consume by creating depth and background. The positive effect of this should not be underestimated.

And that’s basically it!

I don’t hold a bar of soap the same way I hold a football, and if my hands are wet, I take more care with former.

Epistemology is an immensely interesting field which learners should explore. Initially, it can be a little challenging but gradually, it gets easier and is certainly worth the effort. It is after all about the very thing we want to learn and grasp.

I’ll be exploring and “thinking aloud” about epistemology more in future posts so please stick around.

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