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Ideas for 'works', 'On the Frame of Reference' and 'Sapiens: brief history of humankind'

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3 ideas

1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom
There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Aristotle, by Whitcomb]
     Full Idea: Aristotle takes wisdom to come in two forms, the practical and the theoretical, the former of which is good judgement about how to act, and the latter of which is deep knowledge or understanding.
     From: report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Dennis Whitcomb - Wisdom Intro
     A reaction: The interesting question is then whether the two are connected. One might be thoroughly 'sensible' about action, without counting as 'wise', which seems to require a broader view of what is being done. Whitcomb endorses Aristotle on this idea.
1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 5. Later European Thought
The Scientific Revolution was the discovery of our own ignorance [Harari]
     Full Idea: The great discovery of the Scientific Revolution was that humans do not know the answers to their most important question.
     From: Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: brief history of humankind [2014], 14 'Ignoramus')
     A reaction: I think of that revolution as raising the bar in epistemology, but this idea gives a motivation for doing so. Why the discovery then, and not before?
For millenia people didn't know how to convert one type of energy into another [Harari]
     Full Idea: For millenia people didn't know how to convert one type of energy into another, …and the only machine capable of performing energy conversion was the body.
     From: Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: brief history of humankind [2014], 17 'Intro')
     A reaction: Hence the huge and revolutionary importance of the steam engine and the electricity generator.