Knowledge, it's tricky--Kayla Gill

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I just want to say that about 30 minutes ago, I got out of an exam. Now after reading this, my brain officially hurts. Pascal really made me question some ideas, especially when it comes to knowledge. Pascal seems to follow in the same idea as Socrates with the idea--paraphrased--I only know what I don't know.  Pascal makes it very clear that under most conditions, the mind is not able to fully comprehend knowledge. It says on the second page that even, "Extreme youth and extreme age hinder the mind, as also as too much and too little education." The first sentence came clear to me because younger children do have a hard time comprehending deep topics, and mental age roughens as the brain deteriorates and reaches different complications. However, can you know too much? What if this is the point Socrates makes? Socrates was obviously a very intelligent man, especially for his time period. For him, the thing he gained in all his studies, all the wisdom, all the knowledge he acquired--he knew nothing. Pascal continues by saying that one of our problems as a human mind is to look for certainty and stability. He warns us saying that there is no such thing. Which, when considered, is true. My stability is different from yours. There is nothing here on this Earth that is set in stone or certain. Take science, for instance, it changes every day. New discoveries are made and concepts that were so common were changed. This is a prime example of Pascal's teaching. As researchers dug digger once they craved more knowledge, they soon realized they knew nothing truly.

So there ya go. A fried brain blog post for your night. After 60+ hours of studying this week I have concluded, I know nothing.

PS I commented on Hannah & AnnaKate's posts

Comments

abbiehedden said…
Kayla, I loved reading your blog post! It really made me think about something called the information bias, that suggests people are prone to make worse decisions with more information rather than going off a little information and instinct. I think that that theory suggests that there is such thing as too much knowledge, but I'm not sure how I feel on it. Good post.
November 18, 2019 at 9:52 PM
Katie Byars said…
I tend to disagree. People make worse decisions when they go off of instinct and little information. the only reason that they can make better decisions this way is if it is in the moment and requires a split-second choice. God created us to seek knowledge, to understand the world around us. We can never fully understand it, but that never means that God wants us to stop asking because we have enough knowledge.
November 18, 2019 at 10:06 PM
Sydney Snow said…
Can we know too much? I don't necessarily think that we can. No matter how hard we try and how many questions we ask, we are never going to get the answers we seek. Man is on this infinite journey to attain knowledge we cannot comprehend. This quest for knowledge can seriously injure someone's mind if they do not realize that a lot of the questions they have don't have answers. It can drive someone crazy. I don't think we can know too much, but I do think we can search too much.
November 19, 2019 at 6:01 AM
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