Volume 6 · The Unfinished Syllabus · Essay 21

Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam

Argumentum Ad Ignorantiam is a small handle on a large fact. Grip it, and the fact becomes easier to carry.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

Think of the tuition teacher who says, 'First learn the formula, then forget where it came from — and then, one day, remember it properly.' That three-step journey is how all real learning travels.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. That is all. A small tool, honestly kept, beats a large one admired.