There is a proverb “Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.”
What is your interpretation of this quote? Can the acquisition of knowledge be good or bad?
This essay response was written in a supervised examination hall with a time limit of 90 minutes.
“Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.” The first phrase in this quote “not to know is bad,” means ignorance is bad, lack of knowledge is not good. The second explains that being aware of your ignorance and still conforming and wallowing in it is even worse. In my perspective, in the issues of life, ignorance is not an excuse, so not wanting to know when you know that you don’t know is much worse.
Knowledge is the acquisition of facts, experience skills or information on any subject matter. The application of knowledge is what is referred to as wisdom. Acquisition is simply owning, getting, and having. It is the process of getting to have something, how then can we therefore say that acquisition of knowledge is bad. Acquisition of knowledge means having to know or get informed about something or any subject matter.
“You start dying the day you stop learning,” is a popular maxim that justifies that acquisition of knowledge is not bad but only if your focus of knowing is on things that can build you up, physically, spiritually, academically, socially, emotionally, or even help your intuition.
Knowledge can be acquired in various forms. One of which is going to school. The major purpose of going to school is to know, acquire information. If there is no need to be aware or to be informed, then there will be no need to go to school or attend lectures. The school provides an opportunity to learn through teaching of various subjects and creating physical or visual learning platforms through school libraries.
Consequently, technology has made the acquisition of knowledge much easier. Through social media or artificial intelligence apps, learning is a lot more convenient. Additionally, religious centers provide a platform for learning. We acquire more knowledge about our beliefs, values and religion to enhance whichever spiritual buildup we subscribe to.
There are various benefits to being in the know of a subject matter. Firstly, it saves you from the dangers associated with that subject or thing. For example, as a teenager, if you are informed about your body systems, the physical and physiological changes associated with puberty, it can help you keep clean and avoid body odor. Also, knowledge makes you stand out. A knowledgeable person is respected and honored. Having knowledge that another person does not have may make such a person respect you.
Inquisitiveness is the curiosity and willingness to know. An inquisitive person is open to knowledge and criticisms. In the process of acquiring knowledge there is room for mistakes but you don’t dwell on them. Instead, you discover your mistakes and learn to correct them and then stand strong. Furthermore, all respected knowledgeable people are respected people. Knowledge is closely associated with honor, a pastor is respected for his or her knowledge of the word of God, a teacher is also respected for his or her knowledge about a subject, to mention a few.
Basically, the acquisition of knowledge is good, but it can take a shift when there is a wrong purpose for learning. For instance, acquisition of knowledge on cybercrime is not wrong if you are an anti-crime agent but acquiring the knowledge to get involved in criminal activity now becomes an abuse of the knowledge you have acquired. Now, it then can be bad, i.e. in this case, acquisition of such knowledge can be referred to as bad.
In all, it can be said that the acquisition can be either good or bad , it all depends on the kind of knowledge being acquired and the purpose. Generally, acquisition of purposeful knowledge for the sake of being aware is good but the acquisition of knowledge for wrong purposes is what can be referred to as “bad.” After all, the quote explains that ignorance is bad.
Inquisitiveness is the curiosity and willingness to know. An inquisitive person is open to knowledge and criticisms. In the process of acquiring knowledge there is room for mistakes but you don’t dwell on them. Instead, you discover your mistakes and learn to correct them and then stand strong.
A.G. Project 