On Wisdom
What does science tell us about wisdom?
Displaying all 3 Episode of On Wisdom with the tag “politics”.
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26: Wicked Problems (with Judith Glück)
March 5th, 2020 | 59 mins 44 secs
age, culture, doctors, emotional sensitivity, emotions, empathy, exploratory processing, happiness, judith gluck, managing uncertainty & uncontrollability, meaning, more model of life experience, nic weststrate, openness, paul baltes, performance-based measures, philosophy, politics, psychology, purpose, reasoning, redemptive processing, reflectivity, self-report measures, social psychology, society, susan bluck, teachers, wisdom, wisdom measurement
Bad things happen to all of us. But why do some people grow wiser, while others simply grow bitter? What do scientists do to reliably measure wisdom in the laboratory? And might this research suggest solutions to some of the most pressing problems of our time? Igor and Charles welcome one of today's leading wisdom scientists - Judith Glück, who discusses the MORE Model of Life Experience, different ways of reflecting on personal experiences, collaborative doctors, compassionate teachers, and pervasive foolishness across the entire political spectrum. Igor ponders potential paths to wiser politics in the face of the world's uncertainties, Judith reminds us that our choice of confidants is critical if we are to extract wisdom from challenging experiences, and Charles is surprised to learn that neither the left nor the right has a monopoly on championing unwise leaders. Welcome to Episode 26.
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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 18: The End of the World is Nigh: Polarised Tribes, Passionate Words, and the Partisan Brain (with Jay Van Bavel)
June 29th, 2019 | 1 hr 3 mins
bias, culture, echo chambers, jay van bavel, mathematics, moral-emotional language, motivated reasoning, neuroscience, off-ramps, partisanship, perception, polarisation, politics, psychology, social media, social psychology, superheroes, wisdom
How did politics get so damn polarised? Jay Van Bavel joins Igor and Charles to discuss political polarisation, the partisan brain, the inexorable rise of superheroes in dark times, the misperceptions of polarisation levels, and how to reach out to other tribes. Igor highlights the partisanship-transcending benefits of a Watchmen-style alien invasion, Jay proposes the judicious use of ‘off-ramps’ when engaging with loved-ones from across the political divide, and Charles learns that even the abstract purity of Mathematics is not immune from the tentacles of partisanship when guns are involved. Welcome to Episode 18.