Treasures From the ETR Archives: Erfahrung vs. Wissen Knowledge
March 21, 2007
"I went to bed that night thinking about the threat of global warming and its effects (including raising the sea level by a foot or more), and dreamed my house was being washed out to sea.
"I woke up wondering if I should sell my home and buy another one further inland. That would be the prudent thing to do, I figured. Better to get out now while I could still get a good price. If I waited until it was obvious that all these coastal properties were going to be flooded one day, I'd be out several million dollars.
"On the other hand, my heart argued, I have no reason to believe that the ocean is going to rise. It hasn't risen in all the years that I've been living across from it. Chances are, it won't rise in the future.
"Plus, my heart continued, I love this house. I love the way it looks, the way it feels, and the view I get every time I look out the window. Why give up something I truly love because I fear that one day it will be less valuable or even worthless?
"My dilemma was a classic struggle between head and heart. It was also, I realized, an example of the difference between two very different kinds of knowledge: wissen [secondary knowledge] and erfahrung [primary knowledge - the kind you get from personal experience]."
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"I think we are all better off directing our lives based on what we know from experience to be true, rather than on what we've been told (by the government, by big business, by vested interests, etc.) to be true.
"In my humble opinion, some of the most commonly held, 'common-sense' ideas about making money and accumulating wealth are downright falsehoods."
* * * * *
"One of the most common mistakes we make in business is thinking we know things that we don't. I'm thinking specifically of believing we are capable of running a certain type of business simply because we have been a long-time customer of it.
"You are completely sure, given your vast experience buying or using a certain product, that you could successfully produce and sell it at a profit. Let's call this common mistake the Conceit of Outside Knowledge. And let's say that it is not an entirely bad thing. Even though it accounts for a great deal of confident but stupid criticism...it is also the cause - perhaps the most common cause - of entrepreneurship."
posted by M. Masterson @ 8:24 AM,
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