Wisdom 5

29 November 2023

Wisdom 5

“’Well now, for the dangers of a sea-voyage, do you consider any pilots to be more fortunate, as a general rule, than the wise ones?’

“’No, to be sure.’

“’Well, then, suppose you were on a campaign, with which kind of general would you prefer to share both the peril and the luck – a wise man, or an ignorant?’

“’With a wise one.’

“’Well, then supposing you were sick, with which kind of doctor would you like to venture yourself – a wise one, or an ignorant?’

“’With a wise one.’

“’And your reason,” I said, “is this, that you would fare with better fortune in the hands of a wise one than of an ignorant one?’

“’He assented.’

“’So that wisdom everywhere causes men to be fortunate: since I presume she could never err, but must needs be right in act and result; otherwise she could be no longer wisdom.’

“’We came to an agreement somehow or other in the end that the truth in general was this: when wisdom is present, he with whom it is present has no need of good fortune as well; and as we had agreed on this I began to inquire of him over again what we should think, in this case, of our previous agreements . . . ‘”

(Plato, Euthydemus, translated by W. R. M. Lamb, Plato: Laches, Protagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1924, pages 407-409, 279E-280B, ISBN: 9780674991835)

1.  In this part of the dialogue the meaning of wisdom is unpacked by using a technique that Socrates often uses: several examples of an idea are given and then the shared truth found in all of these instances is pointed to.  In this case the examples are a sea voyage, military service, and sickness.  It is drawn out that in each instance we would want to follow someone who is wise in the ways of a particular subject to one who is ignorant of those ways. 

Socrates then draws out the general truth regarding wisdom: “. . . he with whom it (wisdom) is present has no need of good fortune as well.”  And this is true because wisdom ‘never errs’. 

2.  Here wisdom is presented as having the function of a good guide.  And this is what connects practical wisdom (meaning wisdom of a particular topic) to wisdom in a philosophical context.  Practical wisdom has content, the content of a particular topic.  Philosophical wisdom transcends content.  But in both cases wisdom guides us in a beneficent manner.

3.  I think you could say that philosophical, or transcendent, wisdom is the systematic removal of material content from the mind.  Philosophical wisdom is, therefore, a kind of unlearning.

4.  Philosophical wisdom is becoming aware of the source of practical wisdom, what precedes practical wisdom.  Practical wisdom is the instantiation of philosophical wisdom confined to a specific topic.

5.  Notice the quality of beneficence, which I mentioned above.  That quality is shared by both practical wisdom and philosophical wisdom.  It is a kind of providence.

6.  We rely on wisdom to show us the way forward.  We are dependent on wisdom and its generosity.

7.  What wisdom does is make distinctions; this might be the distinctions that help us recognize a good doctor from a bad doctor, a good pilot from a bad pilots, and for philosophical wisdom, the distinctions that allow us to differentiate between the ephemeral and the eternal.