This is a question i got in a religious discussion, and it made me think.
How do scientists get much of their know knowledge before they are finished at University?
Do they not get examples and material from other scientists who studied the field before them?
Or do each scientist suddenly have their understanding of all the scientific material they need to understand what they see in front of them?
Why is it different when a spiritual person say.
It is written in the scriptures or through my teacher i have gained this understanding.
How is it different than any scientist learning his/her field?
Okay, here is one answer using, biology sociology and psychology in the Western secular tradition using in part this version of science by a scientist:
"...
Towards the end of his talk to the science teachers Feynman attempted a definition of science, but
then hesitated, noting from his own experience that science is neither its form nor its content. He did not
characterize science as a particular method, though while that is one of the many ways science develops,
it is itself not what science is. He finally answered the question, ‘what Is science’ this way, that it is,
“...
the result of the discovery that it is worthwhile rechecking by new direct experience, and not
necessarily trusting the [human] race[‘s] experience from the past. I see it that way. That is my best
definition.” (2005, p. 185) And then he went on to tell them, “…learn from science that you must doubt
the experts…When someone says science teaches such and such, he is using the word incorrectly. Science
doesn’t teach it; experience teaches it.” (Feynman, 2005, p. 187)
..."
So let us take a baby. If that baby is lucky enough:
- she is born without to serious physical/cognitive defects, which will enable her to have a normal life.
- she is brought up with nurture without getting any cognitive/psychological defects, which...
- she is given formal training which allows her to learn to recheck all claims of experience including those she learned before she had learned how to recheck experiences, then she will become a de facto generalist in a general sense
Here is the joke. She doesn't have to learn to do the 3rd one. She only has to be lucky enough, when it comes to the 2 first ones.
And then she can be lucky enough to live a full life and die of old age.
But and here is the but. If she claims to know how the world works in general terms, she might overlook something.
Namely that the culture she is brought up in, is not the world as such. She is adapted to function in a given culture, but that is not humanity and the world as such.
So what is it that all posters here do
. Well, we all recheck our own nurture and culture and don't just do it for everybody else. We with reason. logic, evidence and all that jazz have learned to recheck all past experiences including our own and know how to do that,
There is a lot more for how to learn to do that. And no, you don't have to learn it. You just have to learn to cope in your life as your life and your culture.
Regards
Mikkel