The bee project

About this video

Hana and Ravi are doing a school project on why the bees in their town are disappearing. Ravi finds one website, copies its answer and stops. When a classmate says something different, he gets cross. Hana reads three sources, notices they disagree, writes to a beekeeper and checks a surprising claim twice. When the beekeeper says one of her ideas is wrong, she changes it. Both hand in a project. Who is the better knower?

Knowing well depends not only on what is in your head, but on how you go about finding out. Some philosophers think this is the heart of knowledge. Just as a kind or brave person has good habits of acting, a good knower has good habits of mind, which they call intellectual virtues: "intellectual" means to do with thinking, and a virtue is a good habit. Five come up again and again. Curiosity is wanting to find out and asking "why?" and "how do you know?". Open-mindedness is listening to views you don't share and taking them seriously. Carefulness is checking a surprising claim and looking for the first-hand source. Courage is saying "I think that's wrong" when it is, even when everyone around you agrees. Humility is knowing the limits of what you know and changing your mind when the evidence changes.

As with good character, each habit can go wrong in two directions. Too little open-mindedness and you never learn; too much and you believe whatever the last person said. Too little humility and you stop learning; too much and you never dare to say anything. The good knower is in between: open but not empty, sure but not stubborn. Ravi wasn't foolish; he just didn't use these habits that day. Anyone can learn them, like riding a bike, by practice. This video goes with the A Good Knower lesson of Knowledge Level 2 on Knaph.

Transcript

1. 0:00Hana and Ravi each do a project on why the bees are disappearing.
2. 0:05Ravi copies one website, stops, and gets cross when a classmate disagrees.
3. 0:11Hana reads three sources, asks a beekeeper, checks twice, and changes her mind.
4. 0:17Curiosity, open-mindedness, carefulness, courage, humility. Good habits of mind.
5. 0:23Each goes wrong by too little or too much. Open, but not empty.
6. 0:29Anyone can learn them, with practice.