I often look for answers on goggle. It is a great card catalogue, no doubt about that. Just typing in your question rather than using the Dewey decimal system simplifies things greatly. Any topic, any time and lots of references to check out. You do have to pay close attention however, the dates on the articles, the publisher of the article, and what bias may be involved has to be considered. A truly diverse array of answers and explanations will be offered. You can pick and choice your citation to support your opinion. There are experts galore. It can be difficult to determine what answer is correct.
I have never attended a college or university. I've certainly been to a lot of schools over the years. During my time in the service many technical and occupational schools were offered. Many of the schools I attended were centered on engineering, but I did take some associated with human resources, human behavior and that sort of thing. Learning to be a leader they called that. I learned that I'm not a very good leader. I seem to have a lack of patience for the ignorant people. Effective communication is what that was called. Apparently asking people if they are stupid, isn't an effective method.
One thing I did learn is that the correct answers are the taught you by the instructors. That is the answer. If you can simply recall the answers provided, you will do great in the course. That works when the answers are a matter of opinion. Opinions such as, what was the root cause of the civil war, or questions on morals, ethics and the law. Those answers will differ depending upon who is teaching the course. That's the purpose of the Supreme Court, to give the definitive opinion on a particular subject. An opinion on the legality of proposed or existing legislation. Sometimes the court will change their opinion. So again, it depends upon who is teaching the course.
The problem, if it is a problem, today is having too many instructors. In the days of the card catalogue your choices were limited depending upon the size of the library available to you. The library board determined what books were to be included in the collection available to the public. How that determination was actually made I don't know but someone had to decide. The problem with google is having an almost unlimited amount of material to choose from. Which opinion is valid? Are all opinions valid? Well, in my opinion they aren't. That was part of the communication problem I encountered in some classes. What are you, stupid.
I've discovered while writing these blogs of mine that I have an interest in philosophy. Came as a bit of a surprise to me. Really it is what we used to called, jawing. That's when you just talk about stuff and there is no real answer, no correct response per se. It's just about how you feel about things in general. That was the surprise, I was philosophizing all along and didn't know it. So where those old men I used to listen to and chuckle about. They did have some amusing philosophies about life. I can't see going to school for that though. Is anyone hiring a philosopher? I'll just sit here; you can ask me about anything, and I'll think about it.
A related field of study is psychology. That is supposed to be the study of the mind and human behavior. It's a sort of "recognized" opinion as far as I can tell. It's a bit different from philosophy in that you do have to have a medical degree to practice that. That degree gives weight to your opinion. Similar to the Supreme Court in that someone has to give their opinion and have it count for something. The thing is, who's opinion is the valid opinion? Those opinions change over time and the "book" gets revised. What was once a mental disorder is now perfectly fine and normal.
It can't be both simultaneously so which opinion is right? It all depends doesn't it? Which book are you reading and which instructor are you listening to. In my googling I have discovered I can find a philosopher and psychologist to agree with my opinion every time. All I have to do is keep searching the card catalogue. Yesterday I found Piaget's theory of cognitive development. He doesn't agree with Freud or some of the other head doctors. Who is right? Depends upon what school you went to, and what the instructors told you. I agree with Piaget, although I had never heard of him before. I already knew his theory. I didn't call it a theory of cognitive development though, I just said, growing up.
Yeah, your opinion usually does change over time. Today we pay others to do that for us, we call those people therapists. Their job is to change your opinion on something. They will give you a new philosophy on life. Well, that's the pitch anyway. Feeling like you don't fit in, feeling like others just don't understand you or feeling a little sad, hire yourself a therapist. They will change your opinion.
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