Tanya **moved**

Been thinking a lot about knowledge, truth, etc. and came across this:

Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in fruit salad.

I've been talking about universities as hubs for "knowledge generation" but now I might talk more about "wisdom generation"

Dec 18, 2016 at 4:13pmWeb
Show threadChristina HendricksDec 20, 2016

@Tdorey I like this idea. I wonder what make wisdom vs knowledge? Is the latter just information, whereas the former is knowing how to use it well? As one example, maybe, of the difference. Knowing context, what is appropriate when.

This sounds to me lik Aristotle on ethics, whose view of practical wisdom was knowing what was right to do in a particular situation. No one-rule-fits-all.

Show threadTanya **moved**Dec 20, 2016

@clhendricksbc Listening to CBC and there's a philosopher who just said, "By training I don't have much knowledge, but am really good at figuring out questions.

Maybe wisdom is about learning how to ask smart questions & avoid being distracted by meaningless information?

Show threadFredrik Graver 🎥🥌Dec 21, 2016

@Tdorey @clhendricksbc I've always been a big fan of practical wisdom. Understanding how to figure things out is so much more valuable (in my view) than knowing a lot of things.

To me, knowledge is (can be) static, while wisdom is flexible and ever-exapnding.

Show threadChristina HendricksDec 22, 2016
@fgraver @Tdorey And if you can figure things out, and even better, know how to find the knowledge you need when you need it, then having a bunch of static knowledge is not that useful!
Show threadTanya **moved**Dec 23, 2016

@clhendricksbc @fgraver
Understanding which questions are important... best reason I've ever heard to study philosophy :)

I know lots of folks are talking about being in a "post-truth" era, but I'm thinking more we're it's more of a "fact-saturated" era in which folks choose what to believe and then are able to go "fact-shopping" and pick what fits.

Maybe we need to focus more on *why* fact-shopping is dangerous (and the alternatives)?

Show threadKateDec 23, 2016

@Tdorey @fgraver @clhendricksbc I've been thinking about all this in relation to Mike Caulfields big blog post on digital literacy, and #hortonfreire chapter 4.

What we know and what we do with it--what we teach and why.

Fact-shopping is a practice I recognise.

Show threadTanya **moved**Dec 24, 2016

@katebowles @fgraver @clhendricksbc I'm starting to think that there's no getting around it - I'm going to have to read #hortonfriere - might have to make it my New Years resolution. I'll have to look up the blog post too.

Do they compare path of getting to reading & writing literacy to getting to digital literacy?

Show threadChristina HendricksDec 24, 2016
@Tdorey @fgraver Good point. I wonder how often people do this without even realizing it. And then it makes me wonder if I sometimes do it. Best to be self-reflective in such situations! I do think I have my own bubble of people I talk to and news sites I follow...do I fact shop? I don't know, but it's useful to think about.
Show threadChristina HendricksDec 22, 2016
@Tdorey oh yes, that's a good view too. As a philosopher, I feel the same way. I have a pretty good sense of which questions are important, and that helps focus inquiry & information.