Wisdom is a habit?

There's been a lot of discussion in the Reading Odyssey

community lately about wisdom, community and habits.

When we read the Bible, we saw that King Solomon got his

wisdom as a gift from God.  Wisdom was a divine attribute of

the individual, who was either wise or not, and wise decisions

followed from that.  The early Christians then borrowed their

approach to wisdom from the ancient Hebrews.

The Aristotle reading group is working through Nicomachean

Ethics.  Aristotle presents a very different perspective. He

argues that being virtuous, good and wise is a result of

habits and actions, not intentions - within a community.  We

had our first phone discussion on Nicomachean Ethics last week

(link to mp3 below).

In that discussion, reader Bill Swislow made a good comment

about how the ancient Greeks did not have a conception of

"inner states." Bill argued that idea was not widespread until

much later when Christianity became the dominant religion of

the Roman Empire.  For Aristotle, said Bill, ethics and

virtues were much more about the actions of people -

especially repeated actions or habits - within their

communities.   One becomes wise by a long process of

practicing habits and building relationships.

Peter Bevelin, author of "Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger", also delivered a lecture last week (he asked it not be recorded so we have no MP3). He agrees with Aristotle about wisdom as a habit and applies it to Darwin. Bevelin argues that Darwin was not a genius - that's not why he developed such a profound theory. Rather, he says Darwin had outstanding thinking habits - and that he practiced observing, thinking, reading, conversing with close confidants and challenging his own assumptions - and that's why he became so wise and developed one of the most important ideas in human history.

The modern conception of wisdom owes much to the Biblical

tradition--it relates to it as an individual "state" or

"thing" that people have or don't. For Aristotle, however, we

are wise because we create communities that read, reflect,

discuss and deliberate.

It certainly is true that each individual is endowed with

unique genes and a unique environment that helps express (or

not) those genes. And for those who are religious or spiritual,

there may be seen a divine endowment. Certainly, whatever

our beliefs, we can agree that we are not all equally endowed 

- but that does *not* mean that we cannot all practice the habit of wisdom.

Here at the Reading Odyssey, we believe that we can involve

potentially millions of adults in reengaging their

intellectual curiosity - despite however wise or unwise they

believe themselves to be as individuals.

Participants don't have to be smart to join a reading group or

lecture. Rather by developing the habit of regularly reading

and thinking and considering and questioning in a community,

folks can practice the habit of wisdom.

What do you think? Is wisdom a community habit rather than a

thing in an individual's head? Is it an activity rather than

an inner state? Some combination?

Links:

- Aristotle reading group mp3

http://tinyurl.com/AristotleJune2009

- Peter Bevelin's talk - comments and links to interviews 

and his book  http://tinyurl.com/BevelinJune2009

- Register for Barry Schwartz's talk

http://barryschwartz.eventbrite.com

Comments

[Tabitha Dunn]

I believe it is both a community habit as well as an inner state. For example, being surrounded by a community with a habit and practice of wisdom can influence someone who doesn't already have such a habit but it can also not affect that individual. As a result, the individual stays firm to their inner state. That individual stands out to the others in the community as different or other.

My thoughts and thanks for sharing,
Tabitha

[Bill Swislow]

Is wisdom also what people mean when they talk about the different kinds of intelligence -- street smarts, book learning, etc.? People can be "smart" in very different ways, but perhaps wisdom is the quality that is common to those different forms of intelligence. It's associated with things like judgment and empathy, which in turn can be seen as the result of habit/experience.

[Bill D.]

I think of gaining knowledge and wisdom as a skill mixed with experience. Knowing how you yourself best learn rapidly increases your intake of information, and mixing that with your life experiences forms the base of how you see the universe and apply it all. Challenging, and beautiful for those who consciously take it on.

[Carla Stiassni]

"Good judgement comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgement."

This quotation is from Walter Wriston
when he ran Citibank.

"With age comes wisdom"
This quote is from parents all over.

I believe Soloman asked for wisdom towards
the end of living a very long and prolific life.
As a result, it was given to him and I think
he then said that most important thing utlimately in his life was his relationship with God.

[carlsbadcarole@gmail.com]

Wisdom is a result of action, combined with an innate
ability to know the difference between fact or fanasty.