Dear Philip,
I do agree that the "cult of unreason", as you put it, is damaging. But also damaging is irrationality masquerading as reason. This is what the scientific community does today. Scientists take for granted versions of standard empiricism - the doctrine that, in science, claims to knowledge must be assessed impartially with respect to evidence. This is upheld as the ideal of scientific rationality. But standard empiricism is untenable. Physics only ever accepts unified theories, even though endlessly many empirically more successful disunified rivals are always available. This persistent acceptance of unified theories only, in a sense against the evidence, means that physics makes a big, highly problematic metaphysical assumption about the nature of the universe. It is such that all disunified theories are false. There is some kind of underlying unity in nature.
Physics would be more rigorous, more rational, and more successful, if it openly acknowledged this problematic metaphysical assumption (instead of pretending it does not exist), so that it can be critically assessed and improved. And there are, in addition, problematic value and political assumptions inherent in the aims of science; these too need to be acknowledged explicitly, so that they can be critically assessed and improved.
We need a new conception of science, aim-oriented empiricism, which represents problematic assumptions of science inherent in the aims of science in the form of a hierarchy of assumptions, this facilitating critical assessment and improvement of aims.
All this is highly pertinent to the successful pursuit of wisdom. For this aim-improving conception of scientific method can be generalized, and applied to social life, to those enterprises that seek to realize what is of value. Our aims in life are often profoundly problematic, and need critical assessment and improvement as we act, if we are to achieve what is genuinely of value.
These, briefly indicated here, are the methodological considerations behind my argument that we need a new, more intellectually rigorous kind of inquiry, wisdom-inquiry, rationally devoted to helping people realize what is of value in life.
We do indeed need to improve our ideas about what our problems are - above all our problems of living. That Grenfell Tower should have been clad in combustible material speaks volumes about attitudes of those in power and those responsible, towards people living in Tower Blocks. One cannot help but think that growing inequality in Britain, current government attitudes towards social housing, and the political determination to "cut red tape", all played a role in the tragedy.
Best wishes,
Nick
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom>
Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html
Dear Nick,
I am not able to do better than quoting your warning that: "Academia as it exists as present is an intellectual and human disaster. The intellectual failings of academia have a great deal to do with the failings of the modern world. ... but ultimately among the academic community, and especially among those who have the power to influence its character - that what we have at present really is very, very, very seriously intellectually defective, in a wholesale, structural way, there being an urgent need to put right these glaring intellectual defects. The future of humanity may depend on this being done."
I am unable to think of a more damaging source of anti-intellectualism than the persistent practice of "unreason" (a misleadingly mild term) in the public and quasi-public sectors. Practical wisdom capable of being acquired and exercised by the public is stifled with the result that the academic community is deprived of its audiences who could contributed much to the advancement of wisdom. Return to the real problems of the world with scientific rationality seems to be long overdue. A model worthy of considering is the "ethical movement" of 19th century.
The path to more insightful wisdom should be through "right opinion" that is relevant to the real problems experienced by the mass. Instead of "ethical", the focus of this new global movement should be 'jurisprudential'. If the right reason of law (of both the common and natural law tradition) and how it is being systematically undermined, as well as the implications are more widely understood, the process of intellectual rejuvenation could go hand in hand with the revival of civil society so that those who are muted would have their experiences and informed views heard.
The idea of cultivating wisdom at both individual and social levels, as well as the urgency of it, may be best disseminated by a series of empirical study highlighting the nature, causes and course of the problems. A case in point is the tragic Glenfell Tower fire. Is there irreconcilable conflict between the inflammable cladding and reportedly compliance with the fire regulations? And if so, what exactly are the problems?
Kind regards
Philip Chill
________________________________
From: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Maxwell, Nicholas <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 10:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: FW: Damaging Irrationality of Knowledge-Inquiry
Dear Anand,
There is another way of putting the matter. Academic inquiry as it exists today is what we need in order to acquire wisdom. It was intended for this purpose. In its modern form, it stems from The Enlightenment; the intention was that natural and social philosophy together would procure enlightenment, progress towards an enlightened world.
The trouble is that, judged from this standpoint, academia as it exists today is flawed. The philosophes of the French Enlightenment, in particular, had the profound idea, but they made basic mistakes in developing the idea, and these mistakes are still built into academia today.
In order to develop a kind of inquiry rationally designed to help us make progress towards a wiser world, we don't need to begin from scratch, as it were. What we need to do is correct the flaws in what we have inherited from the past.
Put right the intellectual blunders inherent in academia today, and we would have what we need: institutions of learning, a kind of inquiry, well-designed from the standpoint of helping humanity acquire a bit more wisdom.
Best wishes,
Nick
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom>
From Knowledge to Wisdom - University College London<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom>
www.ucl.ac.uk<http://www.ucl.ac.uk>
From Knowledge to Wisdom WE NEED A REVOLUTION. We need a revolution in the aims and methods of academic inquiry, so that the basic aim becomes to promote wisdom by ...
Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092
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Profile for Nicholas Maxwell - PhilPapers<http://philpapers.org/profile/17092>
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PhilPapers profile of Nicholas Maxwell, with publications.
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html
Dear Anand,
Thank you for your comment. Decades ago, around 1974, during the course of writing a book called "The Aims of Science", that never got published, I came to the conclusion that academia, dominated by knowledge-inquiry, was an intellectual and humanitarian disaster. I became aware that humanity urgently needed a new kind of inquiry embedded in its universities around the world, which took, as its basic task, to help people realize (apprehend and create) what is of value in life. But what should I call the basic intellectual aim of this new kind of inquiry, given that it was not (or not just) knowledge? Very reluctantly, I hit upon "wisdom". And in a book published in 1984 called "From Knowledge to Wisdom", I said exactly what I meant by "wisdom": here is my 1984 characterization of it:-
"The central task of inquiry is to devote reason to the enhancement of wisdom - wisdom being understood here as the desire, the active endeavour, and the capacity to discover and achieve what is desirable and of value in life, both for oneself and for others. Wisdom includes knowledge and understanding but goes beyond them in also including: the desire and active striving for what is of value, the ability to see what is of value, actually and potentially, in the circumstances of life, the ability to experience value, the capacity to help realize what is of value for oneself and others, the capacity to help solve those problems of living that arise in connection with attempts to realize what is of value, the capacity to use and develop knowledge, technology and understanding as needed for the realization of value. Wisdom, like knowledge, can be conceived of, not only in personal terms, but also in institutional or social terms. We can thus interpret the philosophy of wisdom as asserting: the basic task of rational inquiry is to help us develop wiser ways of living, wiser institutions, customs and social relations, a wiser world." (ch. 4)
"Wisdom" is used, here, as a technical term for the basic intellectual-social aim of a kind of inquiry rationally devoted to helping people achieve what is of value in life. And it means "the desire, the active endeavour, and the capacity to discover and achieve what is desirable and of value in life". Wisdom-inquiry, if it existed, would be rationally designed to promote wisdom, in this sense.
"Wisdom" can, of course, quite legitimately, mean different things for different purposes, and it is foolish to think there is any such thing as the definition of wisdom. Most notions include the idea, however, that wisdom is something of value: anyone wise in my sense will be able to acquire wisdom in other senses, if they are genuinely of value.
The crucial point, however, is that humanity really does urgently need to learn how to resolve conflicts and problems of living in more cooperatively rational ways - in more effective, intelligent and humane ways - and it is just that which wisdom-inquiry is designed to help us achieve, and knowledge-inquiry is horribly badly designed for.
Anand, there is a very clear answer to your question. Wisdom as I have characterized it, is very clearly worth having. Wisdom, in that sense, is the proper basic intellectual-personal-social aim of genuinely rational inquiry - wisdom-inquiry, rather different from what we have at present.
That which is of value in life has a multiplicity of aspects; in order to realize what is of value we need to do a multiplicity of different things in different contexts, in the pursuit of different aspects of what is of value. Looking after a sick friend is of value; so is creating a work of art; and so is entertaining children, or building a much needed house. The skills and capacities, insights and instincts, emotional responses and problem-solving capacities, needed to realize what is of value, are all encouraged to grow within the framework of wisdom-inquiry. Of course! That is the fundamental idea. Have a look at "From Knowledge to Wisdom" (or "What's Wrong With Science?" or "Is Science Neurotic?" or "Two Great Problems of Learning: Science and Civilization".
Not everyone who is educated within the framework of wisdom-inquiry will end up equally wise, anymore than everyone who is educated within the framework of knowledge-inquiry ends up equally knowledgeable. But one thing I feel pretty confident about. If humanity managed to get its wits about it sufficiently to transform knowledge-inquiry into wisdom-inquiry, there would be a lot more wisdom around (in my sense), and we would come to live in a rather wiser world.
All good wishes,
Nick
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom>
Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html
From: Group concerned that academia should seek and promote wisdom [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ak Awasthi
Sent: 12 July 2017 16:18
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Damaging Irrationality of Knowledge-Inquiry
Dear Nick,
Whatever you propose, has definite merits and can bring results to the tune of accelerating intellectual / technological efficiency but as wisdom is above all this-- it is insight not a faculty to be trained or sharpened-- the net result may be that we succeed in inspiring someone touch somewhere airy precincts of wisdom, which he/she may use in the hour of need but it is difficult to claim that he /she would surely behave like a wise person always. Let us think over again if wisdom is a discipline? If it is not then it can't be tought. If it is, then what is its form? Human history does not help us resolve the latter.
Anand Kumar Awasthi
Former Professor of English and Chair, Director, Centre for Canadian
Studies,
Dr Hari Singh Gour Central University, Saugor (MP)-470003
0562-2600368; 09425451181, 08171038448, 09412834899
Home:25 Syndicate Bank Colony, Opp Nirbhay Nagar, Near Asopa Hospital, Gailana Road, AGRA-282007 U.P.
On Wed, Jul 12, 2017 at 9:47 AM, Thomas Mengel <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Nicholas et al.,
Further on the question "can wisdom be taught": The following book has been quite influential on my teaching and writing about wisdom education (e.g., Mengel, T. (2010). Learning that matters - Discovery of meaning and development of wisdom in undergraduate education. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching (CELT), Vol. III, June 2010, p. 119-123. - >Download article<<http://apps.medialab.uwindsor.ca/ctl/CELT/vol3/CELT20.pdf>); in case you don't know this book, it is worth a read:
2008
Teaching for Wisdom
Cross-cultural Perspectives on Fostering Wisdom
Editors: Ferrari, Michel, Potworowski, Georges (Eds.)
( retrieved from: http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781402065316 )
THOMAS MENGEL
Professor * Renaissance College - Leadership Studies
T 506 447-3165<tel:(506)%20447-3165> H 506 756-3878<tel:(506)%20756-3878>
[University of New Brunswick]
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From: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 7:34 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Damaging Irrationality of Knowledge-Inquiry
Dear Friends of Wisdom,
I am delighted by the discussion that has broken out amongst us. I do hope we can find a way of acting together rather more than we have in the past to get our message across - and make some headway towards creating the kind of institutions of learning that humanity so urgently needs.
A comment on the question that has been raised: Can wisdom be taught? This seems to me the wrong question to ask. The glaring disaster that ought to stare us in the face, it seems to me, is just this: Academic inquiry devoted to the pursuit of knowledge is an intellectual disaster and a human disaster when judged from the standpoint of the basic aim of helping to promote human welfare.
The successful scientific pursuit of knowledge (and technological know-how) has, of course, led to a multitude of good things. It has made the modern world possible. But the successful pursuit of knowledge dissociated from a more fundamental concern to help solve problems of living in increasingly cooperatively rational ways has led to all our current global problems as well: global warming, population growth, habitat destruction and rapid extinction of species, lethal modern war, gross inequality around the globe, pollution of earth, sea and air, nuclear weapons - even fake news and Trump.
At the root of our world's problems there is a monumental intellectual blunder: rationality demands that inquiry pursues knowledge in a way dissociated from human concerns, from problems of living. The scientific community is convinced that this is the proper way to proceed. The idea is never taught; it is simply implicit in everything that is taught. Academics are, in effect, brainwashed to accept the idea without question. But it is a fallacy - a fallacy built into the institutional/intellectual structure of science, of much of academia, with disastrous human consequences.
A kind of inquiry that is genuinely devoted, rationally, to helping to promote human welfare, would give absolute intellectual priority to the basic problems that need to be solved - namely problems of living, problems we encounter in our lives as we strive to achieve what is of value in life.
Solutions to problems of living are not, primarily, facts, theories, items of knowledge: they are actions, what we do or refrain from doing. A kind of inquiry devoted to helping to promote human welfare in a genuinely intellectually rigorous way, would give intellectual priority to the tasks of:
1. Articulating, and improving the articulating of, problems of living;
2. Proposing and critically assessing possible and actual actions - policies, political programmes, ways of living, philosophies of life.
The enterprise of acquiring knowledge and developing technology would emerge out of, and feed back into, these two intellectually basic activities, 1 and 2.
(And furthermore, natural science would put aim-oriented empiricism into scientific practice instead of paying lip service to standard empiricism, as at present; and social inquiry and the humanities would seek to help humanity put aim-oriented rationality into practice in personal, social, institutional and political life, to facilitate the realization of what is of value in life.)
Academia as it exists as present is an intellectual and human disaster. The intellectual failings of academia have a great deal to do with the failings of the modern world. As I see it, there is hardly any more urgent thing that we need to do than to spread awareness among whoever will listen - but ultimately among the academic community, and especially among those who have the power to influence its character - that what we have at present really is very, very, very seriously intellectually defective, in a wholesale, structural way, there being an urgent need to put right these glaring intellectual defects. The future of humanity may depend on this being done.
Academia has been labouring away under the wrong paradigm. We urgently need a new, better paradigm. We need an academic revolution.
What would this entail? I have tried to make a brief summary of the changes that need to be made here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom/whatneedstochange .
But the crucial issue, it seems to me, is to see clearly what is wrong, intellectually, with the academic status quo, with knowledge-inquiry (insofar as it dominates academia today). Only then does it become apparent what needs to be done to put matters right.
And, incidentally, the whole tendency of wisdom-inquiry, with its encouragement to put heart and mind in touch with one another, so that we may develop heartfelt minds and mindful hearts, would be to enable us to discover, as we learn and live, how to realize what is of value in life, for ourselves and others - the task of wisdom-inquiry, and a good aim to bear in mind as one lives!
All good wishes,
Nick
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom>
Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092
http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html
