Assessing the Pursuit-Worthiness of Knowledge Part II: The Negative Case

In the immediately preceding post, we considered a select group of closely-related reasons that make practically-useful knowledge potentially worth pursuing. In this post, as promised in the last, we will consider the limitations of, and exceptions to, those reasons. We will do so not to refute the points made earlier but rather to attempt delineating the contours of the parameters within which the merits of the previously stated ideas are maximally valid. This will possibly allow us to temper our judgments regarding pursuing practically-useful knowledge without going unwisely overboard or astray because outside of their parameters those same valid ideas may, to a lesser or greater extent, lose their validity. Such a nuanced approach is indispensable because it allows for the realization of how and when it’s wise to act upon a suggestion in general and how and when to pursue a given body of knowledge in particular. The previous discussion did not allow for the consideration of the inte...