THE EVILS OF HALF-KNOWLEDGE

M. Arnold was a great educationist. And all through his life he carried on a tireless crusade against the tendency on the part of man to be satisfied with knowing little. “A little learning” is not dangerous in itself, but may become so in the modern scientific era, when the basis of life – science – presupposes exact knowledge. Thus the man who picks up a smattering of medicines and poses as a physician becomes a dangerous quack – an enemy of society. So it is in all departments of life. Imperfect knowledge is the source of blunders and mistakes and might easily lead to disasters. The businessman who pits his half-knowledge against an expert accountant comes to grief. The engineering firm may save money by employing underqualified men, but loses ten times more through inefficiency and wastage. So it is with the guardian who puts his child under mere unqualified teachers.

Perhaps the greatest evil of half-knowledge is that it makes a man conceited and dogmatic. An empty vessel sounds much, and an empty-brained fool is not ashamed to beat his own drum-without knowing that he is only proclaiming his ignorance. We know these people; they infest every department of life. They are always advertising the little that they know as though it were something extraordinary. Unsuspecting people are often persuaded to take them at their own valuation till they are disillusioned.

But we live in an age which has outdistanced all other ages in the range and variety of knowledge that it demands. It is impossible for any man to know everything of everything. Imperfect or incomplete knowledge seems to be inevitable by the necessity of circumstances. Granted that half-knowledge leads to evils, the question is : how can we counteract or minimise these evils?

To guard against the evils of half-knowledge, we must, in the first place, know the limitations of whatever we do know. We must not try to pretend that we know more than we do. Vanity is nowhere so dangerous as in the field of knowledge. Often when a serious case is perplexing the most experienced doctors, well-meaning friends come forward and hold forth on the efficacy of this drug and that remedy which had proved to be effective in this and that case. While we should not presume to advise others on what we do not know enough about, we should not let ourselves be guided by quacks and charlatans.

Secondly, we must acquire the habit of referring all our difficulties to persons who are competent to deal with them. The reign of amateurs must cease. Do you want advice about education? – consult the teacher. Are you in need of instructions regarding your health and well-being ? – go to the doctor. As in private life, so it is in public life too. Governments must rely more and more on the advice of experts in the different departments of public life. They must seek their advice and accept it. Dr. Brojendranath Seal, who was in his days a walking encyclopaedia, made this recommendation to the Maharaja of Mysore,-that every department of the State must be assisted by small committees of experts. It is a recommendation worth pondering.