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Single Idea 6259

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 2. Wise People ]

Full Idea

Why cannot a wise man dare to doubt anything and everything?

Gist of Idea

Why can't a wise man doubt everything?

Source

Michel de Montaigne (Apology for Raymond Sebond [1580], p.0562)

Book Ref

Montaigne,Michel de: 'The Complete Essays', ed/tr. Screech,M.A. [Penguin 1987], p.562


A Reaction

This question seems to be the start of the Enlightenment Project, of attempting to prove everything. MacIntyre warns of the dangers of this in ethical theory. The story of modern philosophy is the discovery of its impossibility. E.g. Davidson on truth.


The 32 ideas with the same theme [sort of character traits which accompany wisdom]:

Wise people choose inaction and silence [Laozi (Lao Tzu)]
One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know [Laozi (Lao Tzu)]
Men who love wisdom must be inquirers into very many things indeed [Heraclitus]
Good people are no different from wise ones [Plato]
Philosophers become as divine and orderly as possible, by studying divinity and order [Plato]
Aristotle thinks human life is not important enough to spend a whole life on it [Nagel on Aristotle]
Wise people can contemplate alone, though co-operation helps [Aristotle]
It is not much help if a doctor knows about universals but not the immediate particular [Aristotle]
It is a great good to show reverence for a wise man [Epicurus]
A wise man's chief strength is not being tricked; nothing is worse than error, frivolity or rashness [Zeno of Citium, by Cicero]
Wise men should try to participate in politics, since they are a good influence [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
Wise men are never astonished at things which other people take to be wonders [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
Wise men participate in politics, especially if it shows moral progress [Stoic school, by Stobaeus]
Unfortunately we choose a way of life before we are old enough to think clearly [Cicero]
A wise man has integrity, firmness of will, nobility, consistency, sobriety, patience [Cicero]
Wise people escape necessity by willing it [Seneca]
A wise man is not subservient to anything [Seneca]
A wise philosophers uses reason to cautiously judge each aspect of living [Epictetus]
A philosopher should have principles ready for understanding, like a surgeon with instruments [Aurelius]
Wise people should contemplate and discuss the truth, and fight against falsehood [Aquinas]
Why can't a wise man doubt everything? [Montaigne]
To try to be wise all on one's own is folly [Rochefoucauld]
Wise people have fewer acts of will, because such acts are linked together [Leibniz]
Don't use wisdom in order to become clever! [Nietzsche]
Unlike science, true wisdom involves good taste [Nietzsche]
The wisest man is full of contradictions, and attuned to other people, with occasional harmony [Nietzsche]
While faith is a passion (as Kierkegaard says), wisdom is passionless [Wittgenstein]
If you hope to improve the world, all you can do is improve yourself [Wittgenstein]
Wisdom is open to all, and not just to the clever or well trained [Foot]
Wisdom is the property of a person, not of their cognitive state [Zagzebski, by Whitcomb]
The best philosophers I know are the best people I know [Heil]
Tell cleverness from answers, but wisdom from questions [Mahfouz]