Fallacy of Personal Validation

A fallacy is a shortcut with a pothole in it. Fallacy of Personal Validation is one of the busier potholes on the road of reasoning.

The error is seductive because it imitates a virtue. It sounds like loyalty, or confidence, or common sense. But follow it home and you find it lives in a house with no foundation.

Ask any student of classical music. Ten years of scales before the first real improvisation. The shortcut generation finds this offensive; the tanpura is unmoved.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. Do not memorise it. Notice it. Noticing is the senior discipline.