World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 461

increase in leisure time should provide more and more adults with opportunities for private study. The broader our knowledge, the better we can understand the many different aspects of our environment. Such study encourages greater intellectual curiosity, sharpens the critical faculties and enables people to develop their own independent judgements on the world around them. From that point of view, all children - no matter where they live - must have a chance to receive an appropriate science education and become friends of science throughout their lives.
However, since knowledge is multifarious and capable of virtually infinite development, any attempt to know everything becomes more and more pointless. In fact, after the basic education stage, the idea of being a multi-subject specialist is simply an illusion. The initial secondary and university curricula are therefore partly designed around scientific disciplines with the aim of giving students the tools, ideas and reference methods which are the product of leading-edge science and the contemporary paradigms.
Such specialization must not exclude general education - not even for future researchers who will work in specialized laboratories. A truly educated person nowadays needs a broad general education and the opportunity to study a small number of subjects in depth. This two-pronged approach should be applied right through education. The reason is that general education, which gives pupils a chance to learn other languages and become familiar with other subjects, first and foremost provides a way of communicating with other people. If specialists rarely set foot outside their own scientific circle, they are likely to lose interest in what other people are doing. Regardless of the circumstances, they will find working with others a problem. On the other hand, general education, which forges spatial and temporal links between societies, tends to make people more receptive to other branches of knowledge. While the history of science is written by historians, scientists find it useful. By the same token, lawyers, sociologists and political scientists increasingly need basic economics. Lastly, some breakthroughs in the advancement of human knowledge occur at the interface of different specializations.
Learning to know implies learning how to learn by developing one's concentration, memory skills and ability to think. From infancy, young people must learn how to concentrate - on objects and on other people. This process of improving concentration skills can take different forms and can be aided by the many different learning opportunities that arise in the course of people's lives (games, work experience programmes, travel, practical science activities, etc.).
The development of memory skills is an excellent tool for countering the overpowering stream of instant information put out by the media. It would be dangerous to conclude that there is no point in people's improving
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