Cleverness versus wisdom
July 31st, 2009 | Published in Philosophy
The philosopher Immanuel Kant once said “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
When I argue that we are irrational, what I am really arguing is that we aren’t wise. I don’t think we are particularly good at organizing our lives in sensible ways.
I do concede, however, that we are quite good at organizing knowledge. We are good at science. We are good at being clever.
Being clever has made us more powerful. We can build cars, fly airplanes, and even go to the moon. We can build roads, cities, and countries. We can dramatically alter the world we live in. The problem is that we don’t know how to direct our newly developed power. In many cases, we act unwisely.
