What is wisdom? Some would say that I am unwise for seeking to answer such a big question here. That is a useful point — in order to know what something is, it can help to get clear on what it is not. Let’s start with that intuitive suggestion: it is unwise to try to answer the question of what wisdom is in the space of a newspaper article. Another example of a lack of wisdom: proclaiming oneself to be wise. Greek philosopher Socrates is famous for having been called wise in part because he would not label himself wise. Conversely, had he called himself wise, he probably would not have deserved the label. More examples of a lack of wisdom: spending too much time playing DoodleJump on one’s phone instead of writing an essay that is due soon; making mistakes without learning from them; believing that skin colour is correlated with intellectual and moral traits; and saying in a tweet to a South African audience that colonialism had some good consequences. Conversely, let us consider so...
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