Using jargon tricks us into the illusion of knowledge
There is a difference between knowing something and knowing the name of something. We can trick ourselves into thinking we understand something by using jargon and complicated vocabulary. It is the illusion of knowledge.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
—Albert Einstein
“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”
—Mortimer Adler
“I couldn’t reduce it to the freshman level. That means we really don’t understand it.”
—Richard Feynman
Using jargon tricks us into the illusion of knowledge
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