There is a deliberate ambiguity to my question that gives freedom to the faculties of imagination, understanding and judgement.
— Possibility
Which is no help at all. — Brett
Maybe we could turn the whole idea around and find the perfect answer, then work out what question must have been asked in order to elicit this answer, sort of like the quiz show Jeopardy. — Garth
Just out of interest what would your question be? It has to be one that is answered by a simple yes. — Brett
The perfect answer is apparently ‘yes’. — Possibility
The reason why I have not replied to this thread so far is that I think the perfect questions should be reserved for creating threads. Throwing all the ideas into this one, without even exploring them properly seems a bit futile, — Jack Cummins
wisdom — Brett
What a nice compliment! I must return a compliment that often enjoy your posts as they are questions very few people ask. I think you bring a life to these boards that it would not have if you were not here.
As for why it is rare to encounter someone with wisdom...I believe that is because there is a difference in being told the road one should take, versus the action of actually walking it.
A curious mind: You've been on these boards enough to know the closed minded individuals. They have found what they wanted, are tired of questioning, or are full of their own ego. How many times in the past have we done this ourselves?
An honest heart: An honest heart will often show your beliefs to be wrong. An honest heart critically examines your own self and does not avoid the flaws it finds. How many of us truly like to admit we are wrong even to ourselves?
An ear to other opinions: How many of us listen to only that which we want to hear? When another opinion repulses you, do we still have an ear open to understand it before judging or dismissing it?
A rational viewpoint: Some are blessed with this as a potential, but this also takes years of dedication to cultivate. I believe our default is to rationalize, not be rational. It is difficult to break yourself of this and approach discussions with rationality.
To become a master of these four traits, you must be tested. And if you are tested, you will fail many times. There might be people who laugh at you when you fall. That want you to stay down. That hate you for walking it. You may get help from others, but in the end, you must make the decision to follow such a path yourself. — Philosophim
What say you? — TheMadFool
As for how morality, for a better world I suppose, relates to wisdom all that seems permissible is to assert is a negative statement viz. a wise person won't make a moral blunder or, if you feel that's hyperbole, a wise person won't commit serious moral offenses. — TheMadFool
handle/tackle anything and everything in the best way possible and what I mean by that a person who has wisdom can, given any circumstance, always make the right/best decision and choose the best course of action as allowed by the constraints and freedoms present therein. — TheMadFool
And what is this assumption of yours that a perfect morality or wisdom or higher power would necessarily result in a “better future”? You have given some hints as to what your idea of this better future is, but that is all—just bare bones with no flesh. — Todd Martin
how can a higher power or a perfect morality insure that we avoid natural disaster? It would seem rather that that higher power either allowed disaster to occur or was impotent to prevent it... — Todd Martin
Maybe your idea of god and morality are incomplete and limited, or prejudiced, because it certainly doesn’t correspond to the world I am familiar with. — Todd Martin
If my question is about objective morality and the answer is yes, it’s true, it exists, then what reason could we as ethical creatures chose to ignore it. And if there was an objective morality then the behaviour of people, all people, would be according to those morals, the rewards would be apparent. Would people go against it? I don’t know. If the universe was moral then I would assume we are moral. But as a beginning the knowledge that an objective morality existed is a beginning to a better future. Governments would operate on those morals, justice would operate on those morals, treatment of others, treatment of animals or the environment.
You may have other ideas about how this state could be reached. I’m assuming that we on this forum all have some aspect of philosophy we believe that if applied would make for a better future. — Brett
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” — Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie
Does knowledge necessarily conduce to what is good (and I admit I have paraphrased what you actually said)?
And the obvious answer is no, it doesn’t, and a multitude of examples appear before my mind... — Todd Martin
Perhaps the answer is "no" - knowledge doesn't always lead to goodness - and thus the need to mention goodness (omnibenevolence) over and above knowledge (omniscience) — TheMadFool
This is because the wisest choice is to say goodness exists and must be added to God’s omniscience, because what other than goodness would benefit us? So we must chose goodness. — Brett
Is good the result of morality, or is morality the result of goodness? — Brett
That's to say, goodness is a mark of a rational mind — TheMadFool
Yes, because we can imagine consequences, something happening in the future. — Brett
You say that “a wise person isn’t confined to specific disciplines but has a fair if not complete grasp of all that can be known...” Would you say then that a good analogy to him would be the decathlete, who, performing “fairly” well in several track and field endeavors, by combining his ability in each comes out superior in the skill of the total endeavor we call “track and field” to all those specialists in it, the sprinters and long-distance runners; the putters of the shot and discus throwers; the long- and high-jumpers? Would you say the decathlete comes off superior to all these specialists by being, as it were, second-best to them in their specialties?—but by combining his inferior skill in each into a sort of comprehensiveness, embracing all particular athletic endeavors under one head, proves superior in the overall category “athletics”? — Todd Martin
Is the wise man the “decathlete” of knowledge? — Todd Martin
A wise person isn't confined to specific disciplines but has a fair if not complete grasp of all that can be known and the hope is that with such a broad understanding of the world, fae will provide the best possible answer/solution to the questions/problems that the world has to deal with. — TheMadFool
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