Friday, February 6, 2015
Theoretical Versus Practical Wisdom
During Tuesday's symposium, we discussed the practical wisdom of Aristotle versus the theoretical wisdom of Plato. While I believe both are necessary in order to truly succeed in a particular area, and master a particular task, I believe that Plato's practical wisdom is more important for most areas. For example, when horseback riding or running, my two favorite sports, practical wisdom is required to be able to do either. One can read all the books on horseback riding that they can, written by the best Olympic riders and trainers, but until they actually get on a horse, they cannot know how to actually ride. They haven't built the muscles required to post the trot or sit through a spook or buck. The same is true with running. One can read articles about running all day, learning how they are supposed to time their breaths; how they should strike the ground with their foot; and how many days they should run, or cross train, or rest, but until a person actually ties their shoes and goes for several runs themselves, they will not be a "good runner." They will not be able to run long distances at a good pace, and they will get tired after only a few minutes. It takes practice and lots of hard work to build up the muscle strength and stamina to be able to run several miles. Many school subjects, such as math, are also the same way. Students can study the formulas and the steps required to work a particular problem for hours, but they will never truly understand how to work that particular type of problem until they work several of them for themselves. Although theoretical knowledge is helpful to know how to do something, the majority of people are better able to learn through jumping in a trying something, figuring it out as they go.
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Sheridan, I see your point about learning through experience and learning through forms or ideas. In some areas of study, things such as courage, justice, and virtue, the form or the idea of these concepts seems so important to them, but I also see Aristotles view that theses concepts must be experienced and practiced to be known. That makes sense to me as well. Physical things that you describe seem to have to be experienced to be learned, and to have to be practiced to be good at them, so why not the concepts of virtue, courage, and justice ? I have to side more with Aristotle on the way true wisdom is gained that is through experience.
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ReplyDeleteWhat you are describing is actually Aristotle's view of practical wisdom, not Plato's view. But I do agree that practical wisdom is a better learning tool overall. Personally, I learn things best through guidance of wise people then practicing it on my own, and figuring out what I am doing wrong and how to fix it on my own. Again, because doing something yourself is key and wisdom is best gained through experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat you are describing is actually Aristotle's view of practical wisdom, not Plato's view. But I do agree that practical wisdom is a better learning tool overall. Personally, I learn things best through guidance of wise people then practicing it on my own, and figuring out what I am doing wrong and how to fix it on my own. Again, because doing something yourself is key and wisdom is best gained through experience.
ReplyDeleteI do believe you need practical wisdom to succeed in many things. You can't just pop open a book and figure out how to do something. You can have potential but you need the practice to actually be good at it. You can be a coach and know everything about the game but never played before and the team could be successful. But the individual wouldn't do good, and the team is practicing all the time to perform well. You need practice to do everything, you have to experience failure to succeed and perform and know what to do if something goes wrong. Also, I think you meant "Aristotle's practical wisdom"
ReplyDeleteI agree that you need practical wisdom, but practice is also needed. Practice makes perfect. Without practice, how would you be able to be good at anything? Let's say you're a football player and you haven't played nor practiced all season, but you studied the playbook. The Superbowl is happening and you're about to play because another player has been injured. Do you expect to do well because you studied the playbook? No because you have done any practicing so you'll most likely blow the game.
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