36. Bad Philosophy

Philosophy is our understanding of ourselves and the world. Bad philosophy is a philosophy that actively prevents the growth of knowledge (see The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch). This means having ideas about ourselves and the world that prevent us from learning more in this specific area. An example of a bad philosophy is thinking you failed a test at school because you are stupid. This idea limits your ability to make changes to how you think and learn. It stops you from correcting any misunderstandings you may have had when taking the test. You are forced to accept that state of things. The test is over and you feel like a failure so it seems true. What happens with the next test or maybe something that feels like a test later in adulthood? You may need to show a presentation to directors at your place of employment and it could feel like a test when one of them asks you a hard question. Unaware that your real problem is this bad philosophy of seeing yourself as stupid your ability to learn and grow from this experience is restricted and you are stuck in the same loop of thinking. I wonder if we have a bad philosophy problem in all areas of life we feel stuck in. What if we changed our thinking to focus on identifying bad philosophies in our minds and trying to correct them?