There is a process of inquiry that is indispensable for unearthing human knowledge and only the person whose mental habits conform to this process can be called educated in a classical or universal sense, says David Hicks.
This process basically consists of three parts:
- General curiosity—asking a wide range of questions
- Forming hypotheses—exercising one’s imagination in forming hypotheses
- Testing hypotheses—Discover a method of testing the consistency of the hypothesis with known facts
“This bend of mind,” says Hicks, “allows the educated man to go on educating himself or extending the realms of knowledge for his fellows.”
