Knowledge and learning are funny things. Really funny. For example, what most young people know by the time they are in the sixth grade is equivalent to what some of the smartest people in the world knew two thousand years ago (depending on what part of the world you are looking at). A high school honors student today knows far more than most adults did during the American Revolution. Most of what we “know” is based on the notion that some of the ideas that other people have already figured out, are true. If we did not build off our predecessors, it’d be pretty tough to know much of anything. We rely on a wealth of assumptions that help us to build up our own knowledge base. But is everything we assume to be true really true?

I am not suggesting that you go out and test every theory that you have ever been taught, just to be sure. There is most likely something to the law of gravity, for example, and dropping a bunch of crap out your window won’t add anything to your own knowledge base, while it will piss off your neighbors a great deal. Not all assumptions are as harmless as this one, however, and it may be worth it to consider which ones you are taking for granted.

For example, most of us generally assume that “experts” know what they’re talking about. That’s why when I go to the doctor and he tells me “take these pills”, I take the pills. It seems reasonable to assume that doctors are in the business of helping people, and that following their advice is generally a good idea.

On the other hand, if you go to the doctor for some sort of cold or flu, chances are they have no idea what’s actually wrong with you, not specifically at least. They give you a bunch of generic advice like “get some rest” or “extra fluids” and then they write you a prescription for antibiotics. The purpose of this is threefold. First, you feel like they are really doing something and not just taking your money in exchange for advice that you could’ve gotten from your mom. Second, they are initiating a placebo effect. You take pills and, because you believe that the doctor knows what’s going on, you begin to recover. The pills aren’t doing anything, but your brain doesn’t know that. Finally, the doctor is covering his or her butt just in case you actually do have some terrible infection. Chances are it’s a virus, most colds are, but they avoid an angry phone call and a potential lawsuit.

This all seems relatively harmless. However, we now live in a world where a shocking number of formerly curable illnesses are “antibiotic resistant.” According to medical lore, this should never have happened. Penicillin, which now cures almost nothing, was touted as the ultimate weapon against tiny germs, but because doctors have so frivolously prescribed antibiotics, we now have a generation of super-germs to contend with. Our assumption that the doctors know what they’re doing has led us to highly unsatisfactory consequences.

For the record, I am not saying that you should stop taking antibiotics or avoid listening to your doctor. My point is that we make a lot of assumptions about all sorts of things that we think we know, and it’s a good idea to question those once in a while. If, for example, you resist the urge to blindly follow medical advice and ask for an explanation of your particular care regiment, you are then in a position to make better choices for yourself. You may still choose to take antibiotics, even though you probably don’t need them. But at least you know what you are really doing, rather than letting a bunch of unchallenged assumptions run the show.

About the Author

Eli Weber is a graduate student in Environmental Ethics and a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Colorado State University. He holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman University and currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife Laura. He is a regular contributor to Mindful Source.

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