Intellectual diligence, patience, hermeneutical awareness, basic insight into the discipline of epistemology and balance between excessive naivety and caution are all essential tools of knowledge that anyone can cultivate and utilise. They are not just for philosophers or scholars.

To quote Shantideva, the great Indian master of bodhicitta, if whole world is covered in thorns you could either attempt to put leather over the whole world, or just put leather on the soles of your feet. These tools are your leather – they will protect you from the endless forms of deception, and open you to the boundless pastures of human wisdom.