Questions About University Philosophy

[ICURBlessings]

2 hours ago, Nemra said:

"Autodidactism... I have never heard of that term before."

It is not a common term. I think the common way of  thinking about "credentials" does not naturally include "what we are self-teaching" - and therefore we tend to discredit Autodidactism from our life before we even think of the concept itself.

"For example, I've been teaching myself to play the piano without relying on traditional methods to the point that I can learn by hearing and I'm discovering things that are or could be already out there."

There you go.. it is often how we begin such journey...

"I'm often shocked that people don't fact-check."

To truly fact check, to dig deep, one has to put aside one's own bias. To be able to put aside one's own bias- one has to be genuinely aware of his own bias. For one to be aware of his own bias - one has to be very honest with him/herself. A bias can weave an answer from true facts but that amount to a view or perspective with a "blind-spot".

Most have to train themselves to discover their biases. One characteristic of a bias - is that it does not want to be seen as such. Our bias can be described as 'WHAT we want the answer to be'. Since most who are searching the internet are driven to reinforce beliefs that are specifically insecure, they are specifically seeking info that reinforces their bias. Fact checking can be very threatening to personal beliefs-systems.

There so much more to say about this... :-)