This is the second entry for a miniseries about wisdom.

“Inconceivable!”

Vizzini declares this in The Princess Bride, after witnessing events repeatedly conceived and implemented. Inigo Montoya then gives the classic response:

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

I think the same thing whenever I hear political panderers or media pundits misuse important concepts like “democracy” or “free markets.” Confusing the use of words and concepts obstructs wisdom. Sometimes black means white. Sometimes black means so many things as to become meaningless. A good place to start removing this obstruction to wisdom is by providing clear and consistent explanations of wisdom. Here is an excerpt from the first volume of essays for the Unenlightened Wisdom Project.*

“For reversing Cindy’s cognitive decline the experiences from our journey across the country provided knowledge, defined in the context of the Unenlightened Wisdom Project as tools for the mind.  Experience is one of two ways we gain knowledge, through the senses and observation; that is called empiricism.  We also gain knowledge from scholars and other types of authorities; that is called scholasticism.  In the context of a humanitarian journey from brain health to democracy, knowledge gained from others will be called news.
The university system originally manifested scholasticism, with religious scholars imparting authoritative knowledge.  Unfortunately, we all have biases, including the most erudite scholars.   Bias limits our knowledge to existing experiences and news.  Reducing bias requires expanding the quantity and quality of our experiences, which in turn helps us to become more discerning with the knowledge we gain from news.
The Scientific Revolution changed the university system for gaining knowledge and wisdom in three significant ways.  Empiricism replaced scholasticism as the gateway to knowledge. Skepticism required shared knowledge to satisfy a burden of proof, rather than merely fit the rationale of erudite scholars.  Empiricism and skepticism created a process for reducing bias and collecting wisdom from peers.”

Please subscribe, share and like. You receive the White Paper for the Unenlightened Wisdom Project by subscribing. Get others to join and collaborate on this ten year journey from brain health to democracy. Eventually I will set up a forum here to gain the collective wisdom of like minded journeyers. The first volume of essays for the Unenlightened Wisdom Project will be released towards the end of the year. A supplementary pamphlet called Pandering and Punditry is available now at kirksinclair.com.