Sapere aude!
Have courage to use your own reason!
What a crazy thing to think about. How many times have you
read a book in class and just accepted it as fact without taking another glance
at it? How many times have you sat in church on Sunday morning and listened to
the pastor and accepted what he said as true without question? What a dangerous
thing to do.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to learn. Gaining
knowledge takes courage. Someone has to be willing to ask the question everyone
else is thinking. Someone has to take that chance and risk looking like an
idiot in order to ask the “stupid question” that you think everyone already
knows the answer to and you just don’t. Everyone knows what I am talking about,
when you’re afraid to raise your hand in class for fear of looking dumb. But how
else are we supposed to learn? How else are we supposed to break the hold of
that self-incurred tutelage if we don’t ask questions, if we don’t take the
chance to learn?
commented on Eliza and Moriah's posts
Comments
"Someone has to be willing to ask the question everyone else is thinking." So often in life, we go without asking the questions we so desperately want the answers to. We see our enquiries as "stupid" and don't want to put ourselves through the vulnerability that comes with embarrassment.
Kant would argue that there is more to this fear of embarrassment. He would say, that our silence is accredited to our contentedness to remain only as smart as we are taught we need to be. But as you said, "Gaining knowledge takes courage!" If we ever want to grow as intellectuals and make Kant proud, we've got to take more risks!