The usefulness and importance of education is continually overestimated by the West. There is certainly some benefit to formally educating young children about historical and scientific concepts, as is the norm, but this does not mean that education possesses the magnificence often ascribed to it. Metaphysics and epistemology are more important than history and science could ever be, yet it is logic that reveals truths about these matters, not classroom or home education.
One does not need to first be taught information before one can discover demonstrable facts; logic, introspection, and one's immediate sensory perceptions are sources of knowledge (though the latter proves nothing more than the existence of matter [1] and the existence of one's sensory perceptions) accessible without the education many people hold so dear. A rational person looks to reason instead of to appeals to authority, inferences, and academia.
One can even educate oneself through experiences and rationalistic reflection on those experiences without any input from other people. An emphasis on Western education over genuine rationality and autonomy is lethal to intellectual soundness, for it falsely elevates hearsay, scientific claims, and perceived academic authority over the infallible light of reason. Intellectual autonomy dies when a person looks to education instead of logic for knowledge.
Education is not primary in epistemology; in fact, it is not even secondary! Logic and introspection are epistemologically superior to education in every way. Education in general, and classroom education in particular, is not the all-important thing that many Westerners believe it to be. The person who looks to education for epistemic victory instead of reason is very foolish indeed. It is reason that encompasses and grounds all knowledge, not the words of educators.
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/08/matter-is-not-illusion.html
No comments:
Post a Comment