Wisdom: Does It Exist?

October 9th, 2009

The quarterly journal, In Character, has an interesting mandate: each issue is devoted to an “everyday virtue” (past issues have included “Thrift,” “Purpose,” and “Grit.”) This fall’s issue is “Wisdom,” and I was asked–along with a group of far-deeper-than-me folks like E.J. Dionne, Rabbi Smuley Boteach, Roger Scruton, and Stanford biologist Joan Roughgarden, among others–to weigh in on the questions,  “Is there such a thing as wisdom?” and, “If so, can it be taught?” The results are here. My only sadness is that I am not in the “Grit” issue. Loving the grit.