Wisdom and the Humanities

Malcolm Gladwell

A statement I heard from Malcolm Gladwell resonated with my because I have often lamented the lack of understanding of the political theory that influenced the formation of our country.  One has to have a working knowledge of the great philosophers to make sense of what the people who wrote our legal framework were thinking.  Gladwell's statement went like this:  "we are a society that is information rich and theory poor."

We are flooded with so much information and we often mistake it for wisdom which it is not.  Wisdom involves understanding knowledge and, for political theorists, it involve how that knowledge can act as good or evil for societies.  It seems that with the advent of the internet that a tipping point was reached at which point knowledge and information overwhelmed wisdom and theory.  Theory is even a disparaged word by those who lack the wisdom to understand the difference.

Think of this.  In the world of our founders a good education consisted of being well read in classical literature and the great philosophers.  The grounding in Aristotle and Socrates led to the reading of more current philosophers such as Hume, Descartes, Locke and Paine.  The condition of mankind is the prime focus of most philosophy and that naturally leads to the conduct of societies.  These people (Jefferson, Adams, Hancock, Franklin. Gerry, Jay just to name a few) were all classically trained.  Franklin maybe less than most.

Now everyone has access to information and knowledge but few have access to the theory with which to bind the knowledge into a useful amalgam.  In some ways it is more like the theory of natural man in which self interest drives everything.  I think this is why we see such selfishness and lack of consideration in our current society and our politicians are, in a large part, natural men and women at their best, driven by self interest and lacking any compunction to lead toward a greater vision.

This is the point.  Without the study of the humanities we lose an essential part of our humanity which is typified by our joining in societies.  Most societies are joined by external forces but our society is more driven by internal forces such as cooperation and compassion.  That is in danger.  People bemoan the loss of math and science skills and that is important in a competitive world but without the humanities to bind us we are at risk of becoming a self-serving technocratic society, bound together only by financial constraints.  Society as we know it deteriorates until it dissipates into oligarchy, plutocracy or totalitarianism.

What am I saying?  GET A GRIP!!  We need our theorists and philosophers to speak out more loudly and to command a presence with their visions.  The essential part of humanity is not our ability to make stuff but our ability to expand the human race in ways that we have not yet found.  The unwise may shout louder but the philosophers must speak more firmly.  The philosophers and theorists must use wisdom to educate and to lead.