Why do people say that the more they learn, the less they understand?

Answer 1

When a person chooses not to learn, they have locked themselves into a specified perspective. That lock down perspective only allows them to view the world through that specific viewing lense. The more a person learns, the wider there viewing lense becomes. The wider the lense becomes, the more options and possibilities becomes available. So what you thought you know becomes only one aspect of something that is infinite. How do you learn everything without knowing that you don’t know? The mind is infinite therefore understanding becomes infinite.

Answer 2

Do people say that?

I thought it was "The more we learn the less we know"

However, as we learn more we begin to realise that the universe is a big place with a lot to comprehend in it. You begin to realise that for everything you learn there are 3 things leading from that that you now realise you don't understand or know.

Maybe that's the answer.

Answer 3

We all like to think we know something or can be sure of something, it helps us to feel secure. With less information it is easier to construct a consistent world view. The more you learn the more the chances are the new information will contradict what you already know. This can make people as if they understand less.

Answer 4

It's to do with knowledge frontiers, I think. As you learn things, you may well find that you realise there is more to be learnt- every answer has quite a few more questions behind it, the fact that you know more has only helped to show how little you know. Was it Isaac Newton who said that, for all he knew, he felt like he was just a child paddling in an ocean? And the old Japanese saying 'sirazu ga hotoke', or 'not to know is to be Buddha'- similar to our own phrase 'ignorance is bliss'.

Then again, people could just be saying this because they're under stress, and need to say something to stop their head exploding. You never know....

Answer 5

From experience, sometimes one is overwhelmed by knowledge and one merely eats it in acceptance, to retain it. But one does not think about it.

What I'm saying, is that for example, you learn a lot of formulae for a maths test. Sure you know how to apply them, and you get the marks. But you understand why such an approach is taken? The inners workings of it all? I've noticed the majority of people don't notice, and neither do they care. It's just about the marks.

Hehe, there's my insight.

Answer 6

Some people have no common sense or intuitive instinct. They can be extremely book smart , but when it comes to recognizing patterns and understanding human behavior ... they tend to complicate things with elaborate explanations based on their accrued book knowledge, when the simple answer is the right answer.

Answer 7

They mean that the more they learn the more they discover how much they don't know.
You can only know that you don't know something if you know that that something exists otherwise you wouldn't know you were missing anything.
Therefore the more they learn the more they realize what they don't understand.

Answer 8

I studied the Bible for 7 years and i learned that the more I knew the more I found out I didn't know what I thought I knew.The more you know you receive the knowledge that its not the knowing of something you thought you knew but its the wisdom to no you dont know what you thought you knew

Answer 9

People generally say this because it is when we start to learn more and more that we begin to realise that there is so much more that we don't know. We never stop learning.

Best wishes, J

Answer 10

the things they learn may undermine the things that they already knew. can't think of an good example. like when you mum tells you killing people is bad, and then you get older and you learn that some people think killing is good, that you have to get rid of the worlds "demons" or whatever. don't know if that makes sense...