Wisdom

A simpler, more elegant definition, still compatible with Grossmann’s, comes from Tom Morgan of LE:

“Know what to do, and when.”

I love parsimonious definitions, which is why I favour Tom’s over the academic ones.

The Keatsian endeavor has never been popular, but is particularly unfashionable today. Religious fundamentalists reject it on the grounds that revelation and commitment are needed to orient oneself in the world. The amorality of a poet who is a “thoroughfare for all thoughts” risks heresy or destabilization. Tell me where you stand, where your loya... See more

The dream of a Liberal (arts) education—which is the scaled, democratic form of the Keatsian ideal of negative capability—cannot hold up when liberalism itself is held to be suspect.

When it comes to psychological researchers, I prefer Igor Grossmann’s definition:

“The meta-value that adjudicates between all other values.”

Holding a certain value, or “attentional protocols,” as axiologist Joe Edelman understands them, places one’s attention on a particular aspect of life. Your values influence how you see the world and how you mo... See more

Tell a wise person or else keep silent

for those who do not understand

will mock it right away.

Like the Stoics and Daoists, I want to put my focus on wisdom so that a “wise agency” can emerge. This would mean people take the right action and get the right things done, in whatever domain they find themselves.