A group of cows are gathered in a field, discussing philosophy. The caption reads: "Philosophy is best done in community. We can learn from each other and challenge each other's thinking."

Philosophy education is inevitably narrow in scope, due to the practical problem of limited time and resources. This narrowness permeates all aspects of the academic community, from your teachers to the editors and translators of the books you read. Even you, the student, are not immune to it.

The Western academic community prides itself on freedom, but even here, there is a hierarchy of knowledge. Those who have gone before you have laid the foundations for your education, and you are expected to build upon them. This means that you will only be exposed to a small fraction of the vast philosophical tradition.

Imagine a vast library, filled with books on every conceivable topic. This library represents the entire philosophical tradition. As a young student of philosophy, you are only able to explore a tiny fraction of this library. You may choose to focus on a particular school of thought, or on a particular philosopher or topic. But no matter what, you will only be able to scratch the surface of the vast amount of knowledge that is available.

Within each school of thought, there is a similar hierarchy. The meta-propositions of the school are rarely discussed, and instead, scholars focus on minor modifications and extensions of existing theories. This is because it is impossible to resolve all of the disputes at the foundation of a school of thought before moving on to more advanced topics. Additionally, many of the problems at the foundation of a school of thought can only be seen from the vantage point of the higher floors.

As a young person studying philosophy, you are faced with a daunting challenge. With your limited lifetime, you can only explore a small fraction of the vast philosophical tradition. Even a single school of thought is enough to overwhelm you, let alone all of the exotic schools of thought out there.

Imagine a mountain range. The peaks of the mountains represent the most advanced and sophisticated philosophical thinking. But to reach these peaks, you must first climb the foothills. This means learning the basics of philosophy, such as the different schools of thought, the major philosophers, and the key concepts. Most people never reach the peaks of the philosophical mountains. They may get stuck in the foothills, or they may climb partway up and then give up. But even those who reach the peaks will realize that there is still much more to learn.

The only way for a young person to think they understand philosophy is to be like a newborn chick that crowns the first hen it sees as its mother. Sometimes, this mother of truth is not even a hen, but a dog.

No matter how much you have read, how noble your teachers are, or how comprehensive you think your knowledge is, you are still human. You only have 24 hours in a day, and by the age of 30, you will have lived for only 10,000 days. As a result, you must stop somewhere.

There is no way for you to comprehend the entire philosophical world and suddenly become enlightened by the age of 30. The only difference is whether or not you admit this.

Imagine a map of the philosophical world. The map is divided into different regions, each representing a different school of thought. Each region is further subdivided into smaller regions, representing different sub-schools of thought. And so on. As a student of philosophy, you will only be able to explore a small part of this map. You may choose to focus on a particular region or sub-region. But no matter what, you will never be able to explore the entire map. These are just a few illustrations of the narrowness of philosophy education. It is important to be aware of this narrowness, so that you do not fall into the trap of thinking that you understand everything there is to know about philosophy.

Admitting it will determine your own future destiny, but it will not change the fact that you do not actually understand philosophy. This is not because of arrogance or elitism, but because of the innate limitations of the human mind. The amount of information in the philosophical tradition is simply beyond your processing capacity, and you simply do not have the time to learn it all.

Philosophy is not a discipline that young people can claim to have mastered or even understood. It is only by first thoroughly recognizing this point, without any wishful thinking, that you can possibly avoid the biggest problem of studying philosophy: learning it while thinking you understand it.

If you think you understand philosophy, then you are done. You have settled down for the rest of your life in a ghost place that you have not even entered the door of.