How Do We Learn
All young, living creatures need to learn about the world, its place in the world, and how to survive to old age while ensuring the species’ survival by reproduction.
Animals are born with a certain amount of instinct that varies from one species to another. One example of an animal being born with instinct is that spiders are born from their egg and can craft a web without being taught. Each spider will take the initiative to build a web with a more or less similar design to all other spider webs. Fish are natural swimmers.
St. Thomas Aquinas did not believe that human beings were born with any natural instincts or innate ideas with regard to their intellect. Indeed, essential bodily functions occur, but he thought that the intellect of the human being begins as a “blank slate.” It was his further belief that human beings learn through our sensory experience. The human sensory experience is information derived through the five senses of the human person: 1) seeing, 2) hearing, 3) smelling, 4) touch or feeling, and tasting. All five senses convey information about the physical world about us.
The other part of learning for a human being is their natural ability to reason or to think things out. Here, human beings define what they perceive and then categorize it. These two skills are the learning function in its most basic components.
Parents or other guardians are needed to teach and guide a newborn infant to learn essential matters, such as how a feeling of hunger can be assuaged by eating and how to develop greater concepts and coordination abilities, such as how to talk and walk. It is natural for a parent to delight in the progression of learning their child exhibits. There are natural concerns of a parent for the child who demonstrates learning challenges.
We live in a sensible world, meaning that we can sense our surroundings. We can figure out what is about us and what we may use to help us to survive and thrive.
May the peace of Christ in the womb of Mary be with you.
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