May 11, 2018 03:07 PM
https://evolvingthoughts.net/2017/08/14/phobosophy/
EXCERPT: As everyone knows, philosophy comes from the two Greek words philo and sophos, and means, roughly, the love of wisdom, although as everyone also knows, Socrates declared his wisdom was his knowledge that he knew nothing.
In recent years (by which I mean increasingly since the 1970s), there has been a drop away from knowledge and understanding as virtues, in favour of an adherence to “identity” beliefs, in which the facts and values that are treasured are those that either support one’s favoured view of the world, or are made up to support it.
In short, there is now a fear of wisdom. This has been called many things: willful ignorance, willful blindness, tactical stupidity, or (and this is new to me) “Nelsonian knowledge”, from Admiral Horatio Nelson’s famous act of putting a telescope to his blind eye. But it is more than something risible, or derisible. It is a major issue in modern society, and it is causing problems of a high order. It needs a name. So, I am proposing “phobosophy” – the fear of wisdom....
MORE: https://evolvingthoughts.net/2017/08/14/phobosophy/
EXCERPT: As everyone knows, philosophy comes from the two Greek words philo and sophos, and means, roughly, the love of wisdom, although as everyone also knows, Socrates declared his wisdom was his knowledge that he knew nothing.
In recent years (by which I mean increasingly since the 1970s), there has been a drop away from knowledge and understanding as virtues, in favour of an adherence to “identity” beliefs, in which the facts and values that are treasured are those that either support one’s favoured view of the world, or are made up to support it.
In short, there is now a fear of wisdom. This has been called many things: willful ignorance, willful blindness, tactical stupidity, or (and this is new to me) “Nelsonian knowledge”, from Admiral Horatio Nelson’s famous act of putting a telescope to his blind eye. But it is more than something risible, or derisible. It is a major issue in modern society, and it is causing problems of a high order. It needs a name. So, I am proposing “phobosophy” – the fear of wisdom....
MORE: https://evolvingthoughts.net/2017/08/14/phobosophy/