On Wisdom
What does science tell us about wisdom?
Displaying Episode 31 - 33 of 33 in total of On Wisdom with the tag “philosophy”.
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22: The Epistemic Tightrope: Walking The Line of Doubt (with Scott Lilienfeld)
October 7th, 2019 | 51 mins 46 secs
10% of your brain, abraham lincoln, bias blind spot, carl sagan, clinical psychology, cognitive biases, confirmation bias, daniel kahneman, elizabeth loftus, emily pronin, emotions, epistemic humility, evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice, happiness, intellectual humility, linus pauling, lucy, mark leary, meaning, nobel prize, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard nisbett, scarlett johansson, seymour epstein, social science, walter mischel, well being, werewolves, wisdom
Patients always receive treatment in agreement with the best scientific evidence available, right? Well, no. Not really. Clinical practitioners seem to suffer from many of the cognitive biases that affect the rest of us, and treatment decisions are often much less science-based that we might like to think. Scott Lilienfeld joins Igor and Charles to discuss evidence-based practice in psychotherapy, the importance of doubting, clinical psychology’s dirty little secret, Scarlett Johansson’s brain, confirmation bias, how science really works, and why people just can’t let go of the idea that a full moon triggers werewolf-style behaviour. Igor reveals he learnt his English from TV detective ‘Columbo’, Scott discusses the fine art of planting seeds of doubt in conversations, and Charles learn from Abraham Lincoln that intellectual humility can ultimately be a path to earned intellectual confidence. Welcome to Episode 22.
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21: The Art and Science of Knowing You Don't Know (with Mark Alfano)
September 13th, 2019 | 53 mins 32 secs
algorithms, contempt, corrigibility, digital mining, education, emotions, engagement, enlightenment, epistemic humility, experimental philosophy, facebook, happiness, hume, intellectual humility, intellectual modesty, intellectual virtues, kant, machine-learning, meaning, moral virtues, nietzsche, open-mindedness, philosophy, polarization, politics, psychology, purpose, reasoning, social media, social science, socrates, twitter, virtue education, virtues, well being, wisdom
We live in confusing times. Politics is polarizing. Opinions clash on many topics leading to heated discussions. Take environmental change and what to do about it, the best ways to achieve prosperity, or the threats and opportunities of our globalized economy. Are we ready to admit that we often actually don’t understand what’s going on? Mark Alfano joins Igor and Charles to discuss the importance of ‘intellectual humility’ when seeking a more accurate grasp of reality, the perils of poorly designed virtue education programmes, Nietzsche and his take on the intellectual virtues, and the training of machine-learning algorithms to mine our digital footprints for signs of virtuous behaviour. Igor raises concerns that embracing uncertainty may hobble vital action, Mark talks of the dangers of creaking open your social media newsfeed too wide, and Charles learns that fostering contempt for oneself and one’s group may be essential on the path to truth. Welcome to Episode 21.
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Episode 5: The Foolish Sage (with Eranda Jayawickreme)
June 24th, 2018 | 52 mins 50 secs
actor-observer bias, aristotle, culture, person-situation, personality, philosophy, psychology, skinner, social psychology, stanford prison experiment, the big 5, virtues, whole trait theory, wisdom, zimbardo
Do 'wise people' even exist? Do we have 'wise characters' or is our behaviour more influenced by 'wise situations'? And if so, what kinds of situations best support wise behaviour? Eranda Jayawickreme joins Igor and Charles to discuss the classic battle royale of the person-situation debate, whole trait theory and the ever-controversial Stanford Prison experiment. Igor outlines the actor-observer bias and suggests that westerners should be more sympathetic to grumpy waitstaff, Eranda considers the motivations behind blaming bad apples vs bad barrels and the implications for the justice system, and Charles learns that overestimating the robustness of his own virtue can lead to all manner of perilous situations. Welcome to Episode 5.