Dexter was a man determined to learn every word in the dictionary, starting from the letter A and working to the letter Z. He had been at it for years and was already up to the Ds. If he had known an unusual fact, he might have conducted his lifelong mission a little differently.
Vocabulary learning has a hierarchy, as does all learning. In other words, when you are adding new words to your vocabulary, you are most effective when learning new words in a certain order. If you jump ahead to words that are too far removed from you experience, it is much harder to retain them. Instead, you need to learn vocabulary in a logical continuum.
The world of reality and the body of human knowledge exist in one huge pie that we call existence. Yet, you have a mind that learns new knowledge in a certain order. For instance, the things you learn first are those material things closest to you. You learn to know your mother, food, the shape, feel, sight, and sound of things.
These are the ground level things you come into contact with from the moment you are born. In essence, this is the reality of your surroundings. When you get more sophisticated, you learn the abstractions that are more complex than dog or cat or food. You eventually learn about science, physics, philosophy, etc. The requirements of your consciousness dictate how you learn things.
One of the reasons that this is important is that to learn new things, you must make sure that they are grounded to reality. In other words, you need to go to ground level, basic concepts and work your way up, always anchoring your upper level concepts to the foundation that came before them.
Think of the hierarchy of knowledge as a skyscraper. The foundation and ground level is the reality you see around you. It can be tested by simple observation. When you rise up the elevator of this knowledge skyscraper, you reach levels with wider views and levels of abstraction.
You start at ground-level reality. Then you rise based on the nature of your consciousness. You eventually reach the level of the higher abstractions such as philosophy and science.
Also, consider this: If you want to convince others of your views, you need to meet them first at ground level and gradually take them up the elevator of knowledge.
“No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.” —John Locke
“Concepts have a hierarchical structure, i.e., …the higher, more complex abstractions are derived from the simpler, basic ones.” —Ayn Rand
Ken West is the author of Get What You Want! Workbook... available worldwide on Amazon.com and other online booksellers. In the U.S. at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982577702.
Vocabulary learning has a hierarchy, as does all learning. In other words, when you are adding new words to your vocabulary, you are most effective when learning new words in a certain order. If you jump ahead to words that are too far removed from you experience, it is much harder to retain them. Instead, you need to learn vocabulary in a logical continuum.
The world of reality and the body of human knowledge exist in one huge pie that we call existence. Yet, you have a mind that learns new knowledge in a certain order. For instance, the things you learn first are those material things closest to you. You learn to know your mother, food, the shape, feel, sight, and sound of things.
These are the ground level things you come into contact with from the moment you are born. In essence, this is the reality of your surroundings. When you get more sophisticated, you learn the abstractions that are more complex than dog or cat or food. You eventually learn about science, physics, philosophy, etc. The requirements of your consciousness dictate how you learn things.
One of the reasons that this is important is that to learn new things, you must make sure that they are grounded to reality. In other words, you need to go to ground level, basic concepts and work your way up, always anchoring your upper level concepts to the foundation that came before them.
Think of the hierarchy of knowledge as a skyscraper. The foundation and ground level is the reality you see around you. It can be tested by simple observation. When you rise up the elevator of this knowledge skyscraper, you reach levels with wider views and levels of abstraction.
You start at ground-level reality. Then you rise based on the nature of your consciousness. You eventually reach the level of the higher abstractions such as philosophy and science.
Also, consider this: If you want to convince others of your views, you need to meet them first at ground level and gradually take them up the elevator of knowledge.
“No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience.” —John Locke
“Concepts have a hierarchical structure, i.e., …the higher, more complex abstractions are derived from the simpler, basic ones.” —Ayn Rand
Ken West is the author of Get What You Want! Workbook... available worldwide on Amazon.com and other online booksellers. In the U.S. at http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982577702.
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