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William of Ockham: A Letter to the Friars Minor and Other Writings
by Arthur Stephen Mcgrade John Kilcullen William Of OckhamMore than any other single thinker, William of Ockham (c.1285-1347) is responsible for the widely held modern assumption that religious and secular-political institutions should operate independently of one another.
William of Ockham: A Short Discourse on the Tyrannical Government
by William Of Ockham Arthur Stephen Mcgrade John KilcullenWilliam of Ockham (c. 1285-c. 1387) was the most eminent theologian and philosopher of his day, a Franciscan friar who came to believe that the Avignonese papacy of John XXII had set out to destroy the religious ideal on which his order was based: the complete poverty of Christ and the Apostles. A Short Discourse on Tyrannical Government is an attack on the claims of the medieval Church, specifically the papacy, to universal spiritual and secular power. Written at the time of the emergence of the European nation-states, Ockham's work issued a direct hard-hitting challenge to the claims of limitless papal power. The text is accompanied by a full bibliography, a chronology and an introduction setting his work in its intellectual and historical context.
Williamson on Modality
by Juhani Yli-Vakkuri Mark McCullaghTimothy Williamson is one of the most influential living philosophers working in the areas of logic and metaphysics. His work in these areas has been particularly influential in shaping debates about metaphysical modality, which is the topic of his recent provocative and closely-argued book Modal Logic as Metaphysics (2013). This book comprises ten essays by metaphysicians and logicians responding to Williamson’s work on metaphysical modality, as well as replies by Williamson to each essay. In addition, it contains an original essay by Williamson, ‘Modal science,’ concerning the role of modal claims in natural science. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy.
Willing Slaves Of Capital
by Frederic LordonWhy do people work for other people? This seemingly naïve question is at the heart of Lordon's argument. To complement Marx's partial answers, especially in the face of the disconcerting spectacle of the engaged, enthusiastic employee, Lordon brings to bear a "Spinozist anthropology" that reveals the fundamental role of affects and passions in the employment relationship, reconceptualizing capitalist exploitation as the capture and remolding of desire. A thoroughly materialist reading of Spinoza's Ethics allows Lordon to debunk all notions of individual autonomy and self-determination while simultaneously saving the ideas of political freedom and liberation from capitalist exploitation. Willing Slaves of Capital is a bold proposal to rethink capitalism and its transcendence on the basis of the contemporary experience of work.
Willpower: Rediscovering The Greatest Human Strength
by Roy F. Baumeister John TierneyOne of the world's most esteemed and influential psychologists, Roy F. Baumeister, teams with New York Times science writer John Tierney to reveal the secrets of self-control and how to master it. In Willpower, the pioneering researcher Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with renowned New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. In what became one of the most cited papers in social science literature, Baumeister discovered that willpower actually operates like a muscle: it can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. Willpower is fueled by glucose, and it can be bolstered simply by replenishing the brain's store of fuel. That's why eating and sleeping-- and especially failing to do either of those--have such dramatic effects on self-control (and why dieters have such a hard time resisting temptation). Baumeister's latest research shows that we typically spend four hours every day resisting temptation. No wonder people around the world rank a lack of self-control as their biggest weakness. Willpower looks to the lives of entrepreneurs, parents, entertainers, and artists--including David Blaine, Eric Clapton, and others--who have flourished by improving their self-control. The lessons from their stories and psychologists' experiments can help anyone. You learn not only how to build willpower but also how to conserve it for crucial moments by setting the right goals and using the best new techniques for monitoring your progress. Once you master these techniques and establish the right habits, willpower gets easier: you'll need less conscious mental energy to avoid temptation. That's neither magic nor empty self-help sloganeering, but rather a solid path to a better life. Combining the best of modern social science with practical wisdom, Baumeister and Tierney here share the definitive compendium of modern lessons in willpower. As our society has moved away from the virtues of thrift and self-denial, it often feels helpless because we face more temptations than ever. But we also have more knowledge and better tools for taking control of our lives. However we define happiness--a close-knit family, a satisfying career, financial security--we won't reach it without mastering self-control.
Wilsonian Approaches to American Conflicts: From the War of 1812 to the First Gulf War (Routledge Studies in US Foreign Policy)
by Ashley CoxThis book explores US foreign policy, specifically the history of America’s entry into the War of 1812, the First World War, the Korean War and the First Gulf War. Using a historical case study approach, it demonstrates how the Wilsonian Framework can give us a unique understanding of why the United States chose to go to war in those four conflicts. Cox argues that the Wilsonian Framework is an important concern for decision makers in the US and that democracy promotion and the concept of international law are driving factors in each of these decisions to go to war. The realist and economic explanations of these conflicts are not sufficient and we must draw on Wilsonianism to gain a clear understanding of these conflicts. Drawing on the history of American liberalism and the work of Walter Russel Mead and Tony Smith, the book presents a definition of Wilsonianism that represents a broad span of the history of The Republic, in order to show consistency across time. It also establishes why the realist and economic explanations fail to provide sufficient explanatory power and how the Wilsonian Framework can give important insights into these conflicts. This book will be of interest to international historians and international relations scholars at both postgraduate and scholar level. It will also be of use to those wishing to conduct future research into the motivations that drive the foreign and security policies of the United States.
The Wind from the East
by Richard WolinMichel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Phillipe Sollers, and Jean-Luc Godard. During the 1960s, a who's who of French thinkers, writers, and artists, spurred by China's Cultural Revolution, were seized with a fascination for Maoism. Combining a merciless exposé of left-wing political folly and cross-cultural misunderstanding with a spirited defense of the 1960s, The Wind from the East tells the colorful story of this legendary period in France. Richard Wolin shows how French students and intellectuals, inspired by their perceptions of the Cultural Revolution, and motivated by utopian hopes, incited grassroots social movements and reinvigorated French civic and cultural life. Wolin's riveting narrative reveals that Maoism's allure among France's best and brightest actually had little to do with a real understanding of Chinese politics. Instead, it paradoxically served as a vehicle for an emancipatory transformation of French society. French student leftists took up the trope of "cultural revolution," applying it to their criticisms of everyday life. Wolin examines how Maoism captured the imaginations of France's leading cultural figures, influencing Sartre's "perfect Maoist moment"; Foucault's conception of power; Sollers's chic, leftist intellectual journal Tel Quel; as well as Kristeva's book on Chinese women--which included a vigorous defense of foot-binding. Recounting the cultural and political odyssey of French students and intellectuals in the 1960s, The Wind from the East illustrates how the Maoist phenomenon unexpectedly sparked a democratic political sea change in France.
The Wind From the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the Legacy of the 1960s
by Richard WolinMichel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Julia Kristeva, Phillipe Sollers, and Jean-Luc Godard. During the 1960s, a who’s who of French thinkers, writers, and artists, spurred by China’s Cultural Revolution, were seized with a fascination for Maoism. Combining a merciless exposé of left-wing political folly and cross-cultural misunderstanding with a spirited defense of the 1960s, The Wind from the East tells the colorful story of this legendary period in France. Richard Wolin shows how French students and intellectuals, inspired by their perceptions of the Cultural Revolution, and motivated by utopian hopes, incited grassroots social movements and reinvigorated French civic and cultural life.Wolin’s riveting narrative reveals that Maoism’s allure among France’s best and brightest actually had little to do with a real understanding of Chinese politics. Instead, it paradoxically served as a vehicle for an emancipatory transformation of French society. Recounting the cultural and political odyssey of French students and intellectuals in the 1960s, The Wind from the East illustrates how the Maoist phenomenon unexpectedly sparked a democratic political sea change in France.
The Winding Stair: Francis Bacon, His Rise and Fall
by Daphne Du Maurier"Unlike many authors of popular historical biographies, du Maurier resembled Antonia Fraser in being an indefatigable researcher." --Francis King Many accounts of the life of Francis Bacon have been written for scholars. But du Maurier's aim in this biography was to illuminate the many facets of Bacon's remarkable personality for the common reader. To her book she brought the same gifts of imagination and perception that made her earlier biography, Golden Lads, so immensely readable, skillfully threading into her narrative extracts from contemporary documents and from Bacon's own writings, and setting her account of his life within a vivid contemporary framework.
Windows For The Crown Prince
by Elizabeth Gray Vining"We want you to open windows on to a wider world for our Crown Prince."--VISCOUNT MATSUDAIRAIn the ruins of Japan after World War II, the US forces engaged in the physical reconstruction of the country, but they and the Japanese hierarchy knew that the spiritual reconstruction of the country would also be of paramount importance. With the rejection by Emperor Hirohito of his divinity, the Crown Prince Akihito was the focus of the nation's hopes of renewal, however, he was a child in 1945. In order to combat insularism and xenophobia, a foreign tutor was decided upon. Mrs. Elizabeth Gray Vining, a noted children's author and Quaker was decided upon. In this book Mrs. Vining provides a fascinating look at the Imperial Court and her guidance of the future Emperor from a chubby child to a poised, attractive youth with a high sense of responsibility.
Winds of Doctrine, critical edition, Volume 9: Studies in Contemporary Opinion (The Works of George Santayana)
by George SantayanaA critical edition of a classic work by the renowned philosopher George Santayana evaluating key movements in American intellectual history.Winds of Doctrine presents six essays by the internationally recognized critic and philosopher George Santayana. The essays, edited by David E. Spiech, Martin A. Coleman, and Faedra Lazar Weiss, and introduced by Paul Forster, address the broad sweep of intellectual trends—or, as the title suggests, the ever-changing winds of thought—of the Spanish-born American thinker&’s time. The topics range from the secularization of American culture to the rise of religious modernism to the &“genteel tradition&” in American philosophy, the subject of Santayana&’s final lecture in America and perhaps his best known essay. The original Winds of Doctrine, published in 1913, was the first book published after Santayana&’s 1912 departure for Europe. Santayana had felt stifled at Harvard for some time, and his long-contemplated resignation from academia released him from previous obligations and allowed him a new freedom to think and write. Much later, Santayana remarked on the significance of that choice to step away: &“In Winds of Doctrine and my subsequent books, a reader of my earlier writings may notice a certain change of climate. . . . It was not my technical philosophy that was principally affected, but rather the meaning and status of philosophy for my inner man.&”An insightful document of American intellectual history, supplemented with annotations and rich textual commentary, Winds of Doctrine is a vital and engaging survey of the religious, political, philosophical, and literary trends of the twentieth century.
Wing Chun Plum Flower Posts: Advancing the Legwork of the Wooden Dummy
by Wayne BelonohaApply and defend against all manner of kicks, sweeps, leg locks, leg checks and kick checks by learning to master the lost study of plum flower posts.It's time to rediscover the forgotten secrets to harnessing and wielding the power of the plum flower posts in combat. The missing link for training the Wing Chun stance, this book helps intermediate students and practitioners reach the highest levels of proficiency, teaching leg skills, sticking skills, good positioning, and checking and immobilization skills.The plum flower posts consist of 11 posts--10 wooden gerk jong, or legwork posts, and one mok yan jong, or wooden man post. Together, they complete a set called the moy fa jong. The wooden dummy trains practitioners to protect the upper centerline by applying hard techniques with proper distance, position, and leg control, while the gerk jong are designed and placed to train all elements of legwork and manage the lower centerline.A valuable training tool for any and all styles and families of Wing Chun, mastering the posts ensures that you never lose a fight due to lost balance or bad positioning; fall from leg sweeps, leg locks, or leg checks; or miss the knockout because of poor distance or knockout power. Comprehensively written and supplemented with 180 full-color illustrations and photos, Wing Chun Plum Flower Posts is an essential resource for Wing Chun students, practitioners, and teachers looking to expand their knowledge base and skill set.
Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History (Richard Lectures)
by Wendy DonigerAlong the way, we encounter the tensions between Hindu stallion and Arab mare traditions, the imposition of European standards on Indian breeds, the reasons why men ride mares to weddings, the motivations for murdering Dalits who ride horses, and the enduring myth of foreign horses who emerge from the ocean to fertilize native mares.
Wings of Thought
by Kahlil GibranA critical exploration of the life&’s work of one of the twentieth century&’s most important philosophers and poets, Kahlil Gibran Through his fiction, essays, poems, and art, Kahlil Gibran inspired a devoted international following and transformed modern Arabic literature. In this book, Joseph P. Ghougassian brings together the philosophical elements present across Gibran&’s diverse writings, including his bestselling work The Prophet, as well as other significant works such as The Broken Wings, which tells the story of doomed young lovers, and the collection of aphorisms in Sand and Foam. Excerpts from Gibran&’s letters provide a window into his mind, heart, and soul, creating a biography of this groundbreaking, mystical writer unlike any other. This systematic collection introduces Gibran as a &“people&’s philosopher,&” who used simple, straightforward language to reveal a worldview of rich, deep meaning.
Winners in Peace: MacArthur, Yoshida, and Postwar Japan
by Richard B. FinnSingular for its breadth and balance, Winners in Peace chronicles the American Occupation of Japan, an episode that profoundly shaped the postwar world. Richard B. Finn, who participated in the Occupation as a young naval officer and diplomat, tells the full story of the activities from 1945 to 1952. He focuses on the two main actors, General Douglas MacArthur and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, and details the era's major events, programs, and personalities, both American and Japanese. Finn draws on an impressive range of sources—American, Japanese, British, and Australian—including interviews with nearly one hundred participants in the Occupation. He describes the war crimes trials, constitutional reforms, and American efforts to rebuild Japan. The work of George Kennan in making political stability and economic recovery the top goals of the United States became critical in the face of the developing Cold War.Winners in Peace will aid our understanding of Japan today—its economic growth, its style of government, and the strong pacifist spirit of its people. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.
Winnicott and Labor’s Eclipse of Life: Work is Where We Start From (Psychoanalytic Political Theory)
by Nathan GerardNathan Gerard draws upon the pathbreaking insights of a pediatrician and psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott to offer a new set of ideas in the novel domain of contemporary work life and its discontents. Locating Winnicott within a broad landscape of critical scholarship that dissects work’s perils, the book positions Winnicott as both a radical critic and creative advocate for building a different kind of work life—one that might make room for the presence of self. By shuffling the discourse on neoliberal subjectivity to reclaim what Winnicott calls “unit status” of the separate self, Gerard differentiates Winnicott from the relational tradition by advocating for Winnicott’s non-relational aspects. Through such analysis, the book reveals how work and home have become two sides of the same impoverished coin, each contributing to a legitimately “bad environment” that perpetuates self-absence and annihilates one’s unique sense of “feeling real” and alive. Winnicott and Labor’s Eclipse of Life will be of interest to readers of Winnicott and psychoanalysis, organization and management studies, and anyone hoping to deepen their engagement with the dynamics of contemporary work life.
Winning and Keeping Power in Canadian Politics
by Jason Roy Christopher AlcantaraDo negative campaigns win elections? Do voters abandon candidates accused of scandalous behaviour? Do government apologies affect prospects for re-election? While many people assume the answer to each of these questions is yes, there is limited empirical evidence to support these assumptions. In this book, Jason Roy and Christopher Alcantara use a series of experiments to test these and other commonly held beliefs. Each chapter draws upon contemporary events and literature to frame the issues and strategies. The findings suggest that not all of the assumptions that people have about the best strategies for winning and keeping political power hold up to empirical scrutiny. In fact, some work in ways that many readers may find surprising. Original and innovative in its use of experimental methods, Winning and Keeping Power in Canadian Politics is a persuasive analysis of some of our most prominent and long-standing political myths. It will be a "go to" resource for journalists, strategists, scholars, and general readers alike.
Winter: Five Windows on the Season (The CBC Massey Lectures #2011)
by Adam GopnikThe 2011 CBC Massey Lectures celebrates fifty years with bestselling author, essayist, cultural observer, and famed New Yorker contributor Adam Gopnik, whose subject is winter -- the season, the space, the cycle. Gopnik takes us on an intimate tour of the artists, poets, composers, writers, explorers, scientists, and thinkers, who helped shape a new and modern idea of winter. Here we learn how a poem by William Cowper heralds the arrival of the middle class; how snow science leads to existential questions of God and our place in the world; how the race to the poles marks the human drive to imprint meaning on a blank space. Gopnik’s kaleidoscopic work ends in the present day, when he traverses the underground city in Montreal, pondering the future of Northern culture. A stunningly beautiful meditation buoyed by Gopnik’s trademark gentle wit, Winter is at once an enchanting homage to an idea of a season and a captivating journey through the modern imagination. This deluxe 50th anniversary edition includes full-colour images printed on two 8-page inserts.
Winter in America: A Cultural History of Neoliberalism, from the Sixties to the Reagan Revolution
by Daniel Robert McClureNeoliberalism took shape in the 1930s and 1940s as a transnational political philosophy and system of economic, political, and cultural relations. Resting on the fundamental premise that the free market should be unfettered by government intrusion, neoliberal policies have primarily redirected the state's prerogatives away from the postwar Keynesian welfare system and toward the insulation of finance and corporate America from democratic pressure. As neoliberal ideas gained political currency in the 1960s and 1970s, a&8239;reactionary cultural turn&8239;catalyzed their ascension. The cinema, music, magazine culture, and current events discourse of the 1970s provided the space of negotiation permitting these ideas to take hold and be challenged.Daniel Robert McClure's book follows the interaction between culture and economics during the transition from Keynesianism in the mid-1960s to&8239;the&8239;triumph of&8239;neoliberalism at the dawn of the 1980s. From the 1965 debate between William F. Buckley and James Baldwin, through the pages&8239;of BusinessWeek and Playboy, to the rise of exploitation cinema in the 1970s, McClure tracks the increasingly shared perception by white males that they had "lost" their long-standing rights and that a great neoliberal reckoning might restore America's repressive racial, sexual, gendered, and classed foundations in the wake of&8239;the 1960s.
Wir lieben Wissenschaft: Mit einer wissenschaftlichen Grundhaltung gegen Betrug, Leugnung und Pseudowissenschaft
by Lee MclntyreAngriffe auf die Wissenschaft sind alltäglich geworden: Die Erforschung des Klimawandels sei keine „anständige“ Wissenschaft, die Evolution „nur eine Theorie“, die „Wahrheit“ über Impfstoffe werde vertuscht. In diesem Buch diskutiert Lee McIntyre, was Wissenschaft von Nicht-Wissenschaft unterscheidet: der Stellenwert der Evidenz und die Bereitschaft, Theorien auf Basis neuer Evidenz zu verwerfen. Diese beiden wesentlichen Eigenschaften nennt er die „wissenschaftliche Grundhaltung“. McIntyre führt Beispiele an, die sowohl den wissenschaftlichen Erfolg (eine Verringerung des Kindbettfiebers im 19. Jahrhundert) als auch das Scheitern (die fehlerhafte „Entdeckung“ der kalten Fusion im 20. Jahrhundert) veranschaulichen. Er beschreibt den Wandel der Medizin von einer weitgehend auf Vermutungen beruhenden Praxis zu einer Wissenschaft, die sich auf Beweise stützt; er betrachtet wissenschaftlichen Betrug und untersucht die Positionen von ideologiegetriebenen Leugnern, Pseudowissenschaftlern und „Skeptikern“, die wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse ablehnen.Das Buch macht in einer Welt der „alternativen Fakten“ klar, dass die Beachtung von Fakten ein einzigartig wirkungsvolles Instrument zur Verteidigung der Wissenschaft selbst ist.
Wir und die fremde Welt: Neue Abstiegssorgen, eigene Gemeinschaftsmodelle und die Kraft der Kritik von Produktionsarbeitenden
by Hendrik BrunsenDie Studie schaut mit einem pragmatischen Forschungsansatz in einen Leuchtturmbetrieb der Metall- und Elektrobranche und beschäftigt sich mit einer Formation indirekter Leistungssteuerung, die auf dem Argument einer betrieblichen Gemeinschaft aufbaut. Für die Arbeitenden, so der Ausgangspunkt, ist das auf einer Standort- und Arbeitsplatzunsicherheit basierende Gemeinschaftsargument einerseits plausibel. Andererseits bringen sie aber auch Zweifel zur Sprache. Erforscht wird entlang der Kritik der Arbeitenden, wie die Zweifel begründet werden und welche Folgen sie haben. Grundlage der Kritik sind zwei eigene Gemeinschaftsmodelle, die von den normativen Gemeinschaftsprinzipien des Zusammenhalts und der Arbeitsteilung angeleitet werden und den Arbeitenden zu kompetenten Urteilen verhelfen. Von diesen normativen Standpunkten aus diagnostizieren die Arbeitenden eine Entwertung von Produktionsarbeit, welche das Gemeinschaftsargument aus ihrer Perspektive konterkariert und zu neuen sozialen Abstiegssorgen führt. Überzeugt von der Richtigkeit und Angemessenheit der eigenen Gemeinschaftsmodelle sowie zwecks Bearbeitung der Abstiegssorgen stellen die Arbeitenden der diagnostizierten Entwertung anschließend eine praktische Aufwertung als Produktionsexperten entgegen.
The Wire and Philosophy: This America, Man
by Joanna Crosby Seth Vannatta David BzdakBy many accounts, HBO's The Wire was and remains the greatest and most important television drama of all time. <P><P>Conceived by writers David Simon and ex-Baltimore homicide detective Ed Burns, this five-season, sixty-episode tour de force has raised the bar for compelling, intelligent television production. With each season addressing a different arena of life in the city of Baltimore, and each season's narratives tapping into those from previous seasons, The Wire was able to reveal the overlapping, criss-crossing, and colliding realities that shape-if not control-the people, institutions, and culture of the modern American city.The Wire and Philosophy celebrates this show's realism as well as its intellectual and philosophical clarity. Selected philosophers who are fans of The Wire tap into these conflicts and interconnections to expose the underlying philosophical issues and assumptions and pursue questions, such as, Can cops really tell whether they are smarter than their perps? Or do they fall victim to intellectual vanity? Do individuals really have free will to resist the temptations-of gangs, of drugs, or corruption-that surround them? Is David Simon a modern-day Marx who sees capitalism leading ultimately to its own collapse, or is Baltimore's story uniquely its own?
Wirtschaftspolitik: Eine Einführung (Elemente der Politik)
by Hermann AdamDas Buch bietet eine knappe Einführung in die Ziele und Zielkonflikte sowie die Akteure der Wirtschaftspolitik. Es stellt die wichtigsten ökonomischen Steuerungsinstrumente und den komplizierten politischen Entscheidungs- und Abstimmungsprozess bei wirtschaftspolitischen Fragen dar. Besonderer Wert wird auf die Analyse der in diesem Politikfeld verfolgten kontroversen Interessen gelegt. Am Schluss werden die Grenzen nationaler Wirtschaftspolitik im Zeitalter der Globalisierung aufgezeigt. Weiterführende Literaturhinweise erleichtern einen vertieften Einstieg in das komplexe Thema.
Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience
by Stephen S. HallA compelling investigation into one of our most coveted and cherished ideals, and the efforts of modern science to penetrate the mysterious nature of this timeless virtue. We all recognize wisdom, but defining it is more elusive. In this fascinating journey from philosophy to science, Stephen S. Hall gives us a dramatic history of wisdom, from its sudden emergence in four different locations (Greece, China, Israel, and India) in the fifth century B. C. to its modern manifestations in education, politics, and the workplace. We learn how wisdom became the provenance of philosophy and religion through its embodiment in individuals such as Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus; how it has consistently been a catalyst for social change; and how revelatory work in the last fifty years by psychologists, economists, and neuroscientists has begun to shed light on the biology of cognitive traits long associated with wisdom--and, in doing so, begun to suggest how we might cultivate it. Hall explores the neural mechanisms for wise decision making; the conflict between the emotional and cognitive parts of the brain; the development of compassion, humility, and empathy; the effect of adversity and the impact of early-life stress on the development of wisdom; and how we can learn to optimize our future choices and future selves. Hall's bracing exploration of the science of wisdom allows us to see this ancient virtue with fresh eyes, yet also makes clear that despite modern science's most powerful efforts, wisdom continues to elude easy understanding.
Wisdom: A Skill Theory (Elements in Epistemology)
by Cheng-hung TsaiWhat is wisdom? What does a wise person know? Can a wise person know how to act and live well without knowing the whys and wherefores of his own action? How is wisdom acquired? This Element addresses questions regarding the nature and acquisition of wisdom by developing and defending a skill theory of wisdom. Specifically, this theory argues that if a person S is wise, then (i) S knows that overall attitude success contributes to or constitutes well-being; (ii) S knows what the best means to achieve well-being are; (iii) S is reliably successful at acting and living well (in light of what S knows); and (iv) S knows why she is successful at acting and living well. The first three sections of this Element develop this theory, and the final two sections defend this theory against two objections to the effect that there are asymmetries between wisdom and skill.