Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T07:52:23.155Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

33 - The Urgent Need for Social Wisdom

from Part VII - Wisdom in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2019

By
Nicholas Maxwell
Edited by
Robert J. Sternberg  and
Judith Glück
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Judith Glück
Affiliation:
Universität Klagenfurt, Austria
Get access

Summary

In order to solve the grave global problems that confront us – problems of population growth, environmental degradation, mass extinction of species, lethal modern war, pollution, climate change – humanity needs to learn how to do it. We need to acquire a bit more social wisdom. That in turn requires that our institutions of learning – our schools and universities – are rationally designed and devoted for the task. Their basic aim needs to be, not just to acquire knowledge, but rather to seek and promote social wisdom. Academia, when judged from this standpoint, is at present damagingly irrational, in a wholesale, structural way, and is as a result responsible, in part, for the genesis of the global problems we suffer from, and our current incapacity to resolve them. We need urgently to bring about a revolution in academic inquiry so that the basic task becomes to help humanity make social progress towards a wiser world.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Wisdom , pp. 754 - 780
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Cheney, G. (2002). Values at work. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, J. C. S., (2016)., Researching practice wisdom in social work. Journal of Social Intervention: Theory and Practice, 25(3), 24–38.Google Scholar
Cowan, M. A., (2017). Inclusiveness, foresight, and decisiveness: The practical wisdom of barrier-crossing leaders. New England Journal of Public Policy, 29(1), 14.Google Scholar
Einstein, A. (1949). Autobiographical notes. In Schilpp, P. A. (Ed.), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-scientist (pp. 3–94). La Salle, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
Farganis, J. (ed.), (1993). Readings in social theory: The classic tradition to post-modernism, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Gay, P. (1973). The enlightenment: An interpretation. London: Wildwood House.Google Scholar
Grossmann, I., Brienza, J. P., & Bobocel, D. R. (2017). Wise deliberation sustains cooperation. Nature Human Behavior, 1, 1–6.Google Scholar
Hayek, F. A. (1979). The counter-revolution of science, Indianapolis, IN: LibertyPress.Google Scholar
Hu, C. S., Ferrari, M., Liu, R. D., Gao, Q., & Weare, E. (2016). Mainland Chinese implicit theory of wisdom: Generational and cultural differences, The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, gbw157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Israel, J. I. (2013). Democratic enlightenment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kasmir, S. (1996). The myth of Mondragon. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Lin, J. (2006). Love, Peace, and Wisdom in Education: A Vision for Education in the 21st Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Education.Google Scholar
MacLeod, G. (1997). From Mondragon to America. Sydney, Nova Scotia: University College of Cape Breton Press.Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (1976)., What's wrong with science? Towards a people's rational science of delight and compassion. Hayes: Bran's Head Books (2nd edition, Pentire Press, London).Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (1984). From knowledge to wisdom: A revolution in the aims and methods of science. Oxford: Blackwell (2nd extended edition, 2007, Pentire Press, London).Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2000). Can humanity learn to become civilized? The Crisis of Science without Civilization, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 17, 29–44.Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2004). Is science neurotic? London: Imperial College Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2013). Wisdom: Object of study or basic aim of inquiry? In Ferrari, M. & Weststrate, N. (Eds.), The scientific study of personal wisdom (pp. 299–322). Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2014). How universities can help create a wiser world: The urgent need for an academic revolution. Exeter: Imprint Academic.Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2016). Two Great Problems of Learning: Science and Civilization, RoundedGlobe, https://philpapers.org/rec/MAXTGP-2Google Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2017a). In praise of natural philosophy: A revolution for thought and life. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, N. (2017b). Understanding scientific progress. Saint Paul, MN: Paragon House.Google Scholar
Newton, I. (1962). Principia, translated by A. Motte and revised by F. Cajori. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (first published 1687).Google Scholar
Popper, K. R. (1959). The logic of scientific discovery. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Popper, K. R. (1962). The open society and its enemies. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Staudinger, U. M., & Baltes, P. B. (1996). Interactive minds: A facilitative setting for wisdom-related performance? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 746–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., ed. (1990). Wisdom: Its nature, origins and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. (2016). What universities can be. New York, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surowiecki, J. (2005). The wisdom of crowds. London: Abacus.Google Scholar
Turnbull, C. (1967). The Forest People. London: Picador.Google Scholar
Weart, S. (2003). The discovery of global warming. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×