OP-ED In pursuit of knowledge

Author: Garrett Reynolds

Primum non nocere. It was here in the Opinions section in an article by Annie Onishi '09 that I first heard of this so-called Hippocratic Oath. It means "above all, do no harm," and is traditionally taken by physicians upon entering the practice of medicine. For physicians, it is sometimes better to take no action - for example, when knowledge of the sickness is inadequate. I think this concept could be extended to the ailments afflicting the world: poverty, global warming, inequality, etc. Unfortunately, at Middlebury, there is a tendency to think that we know enough about these ailments to offer prescriptions. Encouraged by our education system, students engage in activism in order to endorse their points of view. I think this is problematic for two reasons. First, it could be inflicting more harm than good, and second, we leave behind open debate and the search for knowledge that is far more important at our age.

There are many issues taken up by the Middlebury community, most of which are very complicated and merit years of study. For example, the College proudly supports local farmers by buying local foods, but there has been no discussion of the opportunity costs involved. Are we taking vital business away from farmers in poorer countries? Could those countries produce the food more efficiently, using less energy and with less environmental impact? Talking of the environment, was the windmill we now have an effective use of our money in combating climate change? What does it mean for the College to be "carbon neutral?" Or take the Middlebury student activists who, around the time of the 2007 troop surge in Iraq, advocated an immediate and complete withdrawal from Iraq. What would that country look like now? I don't know the answers to these questions, but neither, I think, do any of the other students at Middlebury.

An appropriate answer, therefore, would be "I don't know." Unfortunately, that's not a phrase you often hear on campus. I think this is partly due to the education we receive. We are not taught to not know; rather, we are encouraged to take a strong stand, even where we have no grounding to support us. On most essays, we are expected to make a clear-cut argument, which we do, even after having only skimmed over a handful of basic readings. How often do we write a paper talking about the pros and cons of a position and conclude by claiming not to know enough to pass judgment on the topic?

We might do well to more closely follow Wittgenstein's maxim: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent." But, in many of our classes, it seems more like: "Whereof one remains silent, thereof one gets a zero for class participation."

Middlebury students obviously have a lot of creativity, drive and initiative. It seems that these qualities could be better harnessed