Knowledge as an Insufficient Contributor to Enlightenment

The age-old mantra of knowledge is power suggests, at least at face value, that the acquisition of all knowledge—regardless of its type, quality, or source—is empowering, and therefore worth the cost of time, energy, and opportunities forgone required for its pursuit. This is, in my opinion, for a whole host of reasons, a terribly reductionist notion which, if followed through, would lead one seeking wisdom to suboptimal outcomes vis-à-vis one’s ultimate philosophical goals. This post is dedicated to briefly exploring just one reason why the indiscriminate pursuit of knowledge could be a detriment, instead of a boon, in the sense that it could serve to inhibit one’s comparative, though not absolute, enlightenment.

The collation of a select group of philosophical concepts yields my conclusion on this particular matter. First, it must be borne in mind that philosophy defines knowledge as one’s belief that is both justified and true. According to the foundational view of knowledge, our beliefs are premised on other beliefs, which are, in turn, premised on other beliefs in a sequential pattern that eventually bottoms out into one’s baseline (i.e., foundational) set of beliefs. In this vein, another similar philosophical model regarding the structuring of knowledge is the “web of belief” according to which one’s beliefs are related to, informed by, support, and supported by, one’s other beliefs. Finally, according to the coherence theory of truth, one can make the mistake of believing something to be true, as long as that belief is underpinned or bolstered by a set of internally consistent beliefs that don’t contradict one another.

Viewed in aggregate, it becomes easy to see how when a certain belief starts supporting an increasing number of one’s subsequent beliefs, thereby becoming increasingly structural to one’s “foundation” or central to one’s “web,” it also becomes increasingly difficult for one to seriously entertain, much less wholeheartedly accept, new information, irrespective of its validity and veracity, if it does not neatly cohere with that which one is already knowledgeable of. An abundance of knowledge of low-to-mediocre (“LTM”) quality—in terms of its practical usefulness or esoteric quality to humanly enrich, and despite its justifiable truthfulness—in one’s mind is detrimental to one’s capacity for superlative wisdom. Consequently, some knowledge serves as a barrier to better knowledge. The key is to understand that one’s sophistication of wisdom is crafted by one’s sophistication of knowledge which is, in turn, crafted by the sophistication of information one ingests.

Avoiding this path necessitates recognizing its onramp. For purposes of maximizing one’s enlightenment, all things being equal, it would be preferable for one to avoid, or at least limit exposure to, LTM quality knowledge. By that same token, it would be equally important for one to become increasingly receptive to, and accepting of, better quality information. Obviously, this requires one to develop the critical aptitude required to wisely evaluate the quality of the information and ideas one is presented at any given moment. This is itself no small feat but is greatly rewarding to those willing to commit to this endeavor. The path to wisdom and enlightenment extends beyond the limited purview of a human lifetime but the active and selective pursuit of knowledge makes it likely for one to make it further down that path.