Table of Contents
Improvement of the Mind by Isaac Watts is an early text about how to learn, and it was recommended by Faraday, who claimed that it had provided him with the framework and tools he needed for his eventual discoveries.
No one can learn everything, it is neither possible nor desirable, but everyone should try to improve their own understanding. Ignorance will contaminate the mind with endless errors.
We should try to be wiser, humbler, hungrier, and more broad thinking, but it is not easy to do this at will. Watts has provided us with a set of rules to follow, so that we achieve these ends.
Rule I.
Endow your mind with sound reasoning and good judgment. Think about the bad decisions you could have avoided, how many sorrows you could have escaped, and how much guilt and misery you could have prevented, if you had taken the time, from an early age, to improve your judgment about people, times, and things.
Rule II.
Consider the weaknesses and mistakes of human nature, which arise from the marriage of a soul to an animal body. Think about the depth and difficulty of many truths, and the tempting, flattering impressions of falsehood. An infinite number of things can go wrong. Be greedy in your reading of authors who discuss the prejudices and errors of the human being, and to make sure that you are always watchful, so that you avoid these errors yourself.
Rule III.
Get to know your own ignorance. Understand how limited your present knowledge. Use this to spur you on to work hard to make yourself less ignorant. Take a wide survey of the vast number of regions of learning. Think of the numberless questions you can ask, and how few of them have approached any subject with any certainty. Think about the puzzling questions concerning vacuums and atoms, the nature of the infinite, and problems in geometry. This will teach you what a vain thing it is to believe that you everything. Read the knowledge that the dead have left behind, and that the living possess – meet learned persons and strive to become more knowledgeable than they are.
Rule IV.
Never read too much into wit and quickness, because without labor and study, a man can never be knowledgeable and wise.
Some people who are vigorous and careless despise learning. They do well in an assembly, and shine in a conversation about common topics, so they took it upon themselves to abandon reading and labor, and grew old in ignorance, but when they lost their youthful vivacity and animal nature, they became stupid, subject even to contempt and ridicule. The witty men of this type have the sense to know their own ignorance, and cleverly shun argumentation, or they boldly pretend to despise and renounce them. Inwardly, they acknowledge their lack of aptitude in reasoning.
Rule V.
Just as how you should not think of yourself as a learned man if you are witty, neither should you believe that large and laborious reading, with a strong memory, can make you truly wise. It is through serious thought and meditation, and by using your own reason and judgment upon everything you read, that gives good sense to the best genius.
Rule VII.
Allow the hope of new discoveries and the pleasure of known traits motivate your daily work. Know that no knowledge of a subject can be perfected, nor that it cannot be improved.
Rule VIII.
Do not hover on the surface of things and be consumed with mere appearances. Penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as you can afford to, especially in those things that are relevant to your profession. Do not judge things after a superficial view of them, this will fill your mind with errors and prejudices. This will create a mind that quickly changes, and is not taken seriously by anyone.
Rule IX.
Once a day, particularly in your early years of study, recall what new ideas or truths you have gained, and what confirmation of known truths you have encountered. Do not let a day pass without some intellectual gain. “Let no day pass without one line at least.”
Rule X.
Watch out always for a dogmatic spirit. Never be too sure of anything. A dogmatic spirit leads to arrogance, which will make you impossible to be around.
Rule XI.
Caution and slow assent will protect you from many mistakes, yet you should have enough courage to admit your errors when they do occur.
Rule XV.
Watch against the pride of your own reason, and a vain conceit of your intellectual abilities, with the neglect of divine help and blessing. Do not think that your knowledge is sufficient, or that your understandings are perfect. Watch against the pride of your own reason, and a vain conceit of your own intellectual powers, with the neglect of divine aid and blessing. Doing so will lead you down a vain path of temporary and eternal ruin. Always be humble.
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