Even though it is common to give students advice, "Think for yourself. Examine the issue on your own and come to your own conclusions," if your friend comes to you complaining about stomach pains would you tell him to study the issue on his own and come to his own conclusions, or would you tell him to go to a doctor?

Faith in the wise has a good argument going for it from Dr Michael Huemer. Even though it is common to give students advice, "Think for yourself. Examine the issue on your own and come to your own conclusions," if your friend comes to you complaining about stomach pains would you tell him to study the issue on his own and come to his own conclusions, or would you tell him to go to a doctor?

I never thought thinking for oneself made sense when it come to learning and understanding  Physics.

So faith in the wise is an important principle but the real issue is how to gain the proper degree of common sense to tell who is really wise or an expert in a subject and on the opposite end of things who is faking it?

Soft subjects are just too easy to fake. The hard sciences are much harder to fake.

The ease of faking expertise in easy subjects is what makes the experts worth while staying away from.


The greater the reputation one has in the easy stuff, the greater likelihood is the guy is just the best faker among mediocre fakers.

[But still faith in the wise I think is important. There was a time I was in great need of good advice, and I decided to take a Torah lesson of Rav Nahman from Breslov Vol. 1:61 and just say it through every day for as long as it would take for me to get to a good decision. That is a lesson that discusses the problem of not knowing the right direction.