The most effective way to acquire knowledge

This goes along with my other post on the two dimensions of knowledge and how they relate to wisdom.

Here, I’m modeling how people expand their views and broaden their perspective through acquiring knowledge.

I kept it in two dimensions to make it easier to understand. My belief, however, is that truth is often multifaceted and thus exists in at least three or four dimensions.

My theory is that the best way to lead someone from one point (less informed) to another (more informed) requires a form of scaffolding.

The little rectangles within the area of the triangle represent approximations of the truth.

To get someone to move from one viewpoint to another, you have to do it in a systematic process: by building on former knowledge and guiding them slowly towards gaining a deeper, wider perspective on a given matter.

Without this process, it’ll be hard to achieve the desired result, simply due to ignorance or a refusal to yield from a certain position.

Exposure to material that builds on previously acquired knowledge will help you move along the diagonal.

And that diagonal is a line that continues both ways. Ideally, you’d move in the direction seeking truth rather than misinformation.

The problems with this diagram are that they oversimplify the nature of reality, which often is not as black-and-white as the point I’m trying to make.

But either way, I’m sure this will spark some thought in how truth, knowledge, teaching and learning are related to each other.