The Benefits and Risks of being Well-read
It is perhaps a platitude that being well-read is a good thing. I generally agree, but with qualifications.
Mere erudition involves risks. For instance, one might become dependent on reading to the detriment of independent thought. One’s worldview might be nothing more than a hodgepodge of views taken from others, rather than a responsibly constructed, critical, and consistent set of autonomous judgments about the world.
The person who accomplishes the latter prize is one who approaches wisdom. The former is merely a carrier of unreflective, externally-sourced ideas. Again, the latter person is like a property owner who is prepared to give to those in need. The former is like a borrower who owns nothing and is wholly in debt to the minds from whom he borrows.
Ideally, the independent thinker will be well-read and thus familiar with the ideas of other insightful thinkers. However, he will not sacrifice his epistemic autonomy during the reading process but instead will strain what he reads through his own system of rational filtration.