A revolution for science and the humanities: From knowledge to wisdom
Dialogue and Universalism 15 (1-2):29-57 (2005)
| Abstract | At present the basic intellectual aim of academic inquiry is to improve knowledge. Much of the structure, the whole character, of academic inquiry, in universities all over the world, is shaped by the adoption of this as the basic intellectual aim. But, judged from the standpoint of making a contribution to human welfare, to the quality of human life, academic inquiry of this type, devoted, in the first instance, to the pursuit of knowledge, is grossly and damagingly irrational. Three of four of the most elementary and uncontroversial rules of rational problem solving conceivable are violated. This rarely noticed, damaging, structural irrationality in current academic inquiry stems from the 18th century Enlightenment. In seeking to learn from scientific progress how humanity might make social progress towards a wiser, more enlightened world, Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet et al. blundered; these blunders were developed throughout the 19th century, and built into the institutional structure of academic inquiry in the 20th century with the creation of diverse branches of social science. In order to create a kind of academic inquiry free of these blunders, devoted in a genuinely rational way to helping promote human welfare by intellectual and educational means, we need to bring about a major revolution in the overall aims and methods of inquiry, in its whole institutional and intellectual structure and character. The basic intellectual aim needs to become to promote wisdom - wisdom being understood to be the capacity to realize what is of value in life for oneself and others (and thus including knowledge, know-how and understanding). The social sciences need to become social philosophy, or social methodology, devoted to promoting more cooperatively rational solving of conflicts and problems of living in the world. Social inquiry, so pursued, would be intellectually more fundamental than natural science. The natural sciences need to recognize three domains of discussion: evidence, theories, and aims. Problems concerning research aims need to be discussed by both scientists and non-scientists alike, involving as they do questions concerning social priorities and values. Philosophy needs to become the sustained rational exploration of our most fundamental problems of understanding; it also needs to take up the task of discovering how we may improve our personal, institutional and global aims and methods in life, so that what is of value in life may be realized more successfully. Education needs to change so that problems of living become more fundamental than problems of knowledge, the basic aim of education being to learn how to acquire wisdom in life. Academic inquiry as a whole needs to become somewhat like a people's civil service, having just sufficient power to retain its independence and integrity, doing for people, openly, what civil services are supposed to do, in secret, for governments. These and many other changes, affecting every branch and aspect of academic inquiry, all result from replacing the aim to acquire knowledge by the aim to promote wisdom by cooperatively rational means. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
  |
| External links |
 Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesNicholas Maxwell (2006). Learning to Live a Life of Value. In Jason A. Merchey (ed.), Living a Life of Value. Values of the Wise Press.
Nicholas Maxwell (2010). The Urgent Need for an Academic Revolution: The Rational Pursuit of Wisdom. In Charles Tandy (ed.), Death And Anti-Death, Volume 7: Nine Hundred Years After St. Anselm (1033-1109. Ria University Press.
Nicholas Maxwell (2012). Wisdom: Object of Study or Basic Aim of Inquiry?,. In Michel Ferrari & N. Weststrate (eds.), The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom. Springer.
Nicholas Maxwell (2007). From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution for Science and the Humanities (Second Edition). Pentire Press.
Nicholas Maxwell (1984). From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution in the Aims and Methods of Science. Basil Blackwell.
Nicholas Maxwell (1984). From Knowledge to Wisdom: Guiding Choices in Scientific Research. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 4:316-334..
Nicholas Maxwell (1992). What Kind of Inquiry Can Best Help Us Create a Good World?,. Science, Technology and Human Values 17:205-227.
Nicholas Maxwell (2007). From Knowledge to Wisdom: A Revolution for Science and the Humanities (Second Edition). Pentire Press.
Nicholas Maxwell (2007). From Knowledge to Wisdom: The Need for an Academic Revolution. London Review of Education 5:97-115.
Nicholas Maxwell (2010). The Urgent Need for an Academic Revolution: From Knowledge to Wisdom. In W. Karpiuk & K. Wisniewski (eds.), III International Interdisciplinary Technical Conference of Young Scientists: Proceedings.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads28 ( #44,065 of 549,065 )Recent downloads (6 months)13 ( #4,987 of 549,065 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
