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Single Idea 3240
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 3. Wisdom Deflated
]
Full Idea
Certain forms of perplexity (say about freedom, knowledge and the meaning of life) seem to me to embody more insight than any of the supposed solutions to those problems.
Gist of Idea
There is more insight in fundamental perplexity about problems than in their supposed solutions
Source
Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere [1986], Intro)
Book Ref
Nagel,Thomas: 'The View from Nowhere' [OUP 1989], p.4
A Reaction
Obviously false solutions won't embody much insight. This sounds good, but I suspect that the insight is in the recognition of the facts which give rise to the perplexity. I can't think of anything in favour of perplexity for its own sake.
The
16 ideas
with the same theme
[doubts about the high status of wisdom]:
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291
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Don't assume that wisdom is the automatic consequence of old age
[Plato]
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7893
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Our life is the creation of our mind
[Anon (Dham)]
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8766
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In much wisdom is much grief
[Anon (Ecc)]
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20815
|
No wise man has yet been discovered
[Stoic school, by Cicero]
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6263
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No wisdom could make us comfortably walk a wide beam if it was high in the air
[Montaigne]
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8093
|
Seek wisdom rather than truth; it is easier
[Joubert]
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7170
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'Wisdom' attempts to get beyond perspectives, making it hostile to life
[Nietzsche]
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14890
|
Suffering is the meaning of existence
[Nietzsche]
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18290
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But what is the reasoning of the body, that it requires the wisdom you seek?
[Nietzsche]
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19608
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Wisdom is just the last gasp of a dying civilization
[Cioran]
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23064
|
So-called wisdom is just pondering things instead of acting
[Cioran]
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9764
|
Inspiration and social improvement need wisdom, but not professional philosophy
[Quine]
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9247
|
Life will be lived better if it has no meaning
[Camus]
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3240
|
There is more insight in fundamental perplexity about problems than in their supposed solutions
[Nagel]
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7490
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Because of Darwin, wisdom as a definite attainable state has faded
[Watson]
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19695
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The devil was wise as an angel, and lost no knowledge when he rebelled
[Whitcomb]
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