In the mid-80s I recall being excited that Dungeons and Dragons might penetrate culture widely enough to return to simpler, earlier, magical times when our forefathers recognised that Intelligence and Wisdom were two separate categories. This has not happened. There was a time 3-4 years ago when the regulars here discussed Wisdom because I kept bringing it up in the context of IQ and Intelligence. The objections to using IQ and recognising general intelligence so often center around excellent qualities that are not measured by IQ or are often absent in supposedly intelligent people. Therefore, they reasoned, Intelligence must be Something Else, or not really exist, or at least not be very important.
At which point I would attempt some distinctions and clarity, but substantially agree that IQ is not the most important thing to have. "We might look at Wisdom, for example, as being more important." After all, Wisdom is praised in the Bible, intelligence only gets a few indirect or implied compliments. Admiration for something called Wisdom seems to be present in all societies, past and present and every continent. It is related to judgement, balance, respect and a half-dozen other standard virtues.
Hey, I know! We could look at the Seven Cardinal Virtues of the Church!
A lot of people would start eyeing the exits at that point.
No really. The Four Natural Virtues go back to Plato and Aristotle..
Clearing of throats, checking of devices, and rising and nodding.
The Three Theological Virtues are Faith, Hope, and Love/Charity. The Four Natural Virtues are Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. If you have those, isn't that better than mere intelligence?
Hey. Where did everyone go? The truth is, wisdom is hard and costs you something. As a culture, we don't really want to move off intelligence, good looks, being entertaining, connections, and respectability as our measures. We just want to make fun of them as a way of leveling others back to us.
1 comment:
It seems awfully hard for some people to contemplate that an IQ test might be useful in a lot of contexts, even if it were not the most important measure of whether someone qualifies for the U.S. team for the 100-meter dash, or a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Similarly, I'm very interested in whether a musician has perfect pitch, but not particularly concerned about that quality in my neurosurgeon or jet pilot.
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