29. What is Wisdom & Can it be Taught?

09/05/23 • 48 min

Wisdom is one of the most common stated intentions of a classical education, but what exactly is it? Using the work of St John Henry Newman and John Ozolins, Difff and James discuss Newman's definition of it and how he saw it fitting into education. This includes the importance of a foundation of knowledge that can then be connected together to form a synthesised picture of the whole of the world, rather than experiencing the world as dissonant disconnected parts. We also discuss how this might happen in a classroom, and the importance of cultivating an atmosphere of the desire for wisdom within the staff and across the school.

Check out Difff's other podcast: Chiron, conversations about the past to help make sense of the present.
And James' other podcast: The Art of Inquiry, inquiries into the nature of the world and humanity with expert level guests passionate about their field.
Music: 'Inspiring Dreams' by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Previous Episode

28. Education at the Crossroads & Socratic Logic - Some Books, Part 11

In the final episode of the mini series about good books that we recommend for those interested in Classical Education, Difff talks about Jacques Maritain's Education at the Crossroads and the importance of teleology and therefore anthropology when it comes to true education. James discusses Peter Kreeft's Socratic Logic and introduces some basic terms in logic including a few fallacies such as the strawman and post hoc fallacies.

Next Episode

30. Assessment Reconsidered

What is assessment? What is its purpose, and how do we know if we're achieving it? This episode is a shorter discussion starter, aimed at provoking some questions in listeners' minds about the purpose of assessment; ways that it can be helpful or harmful; and how it should be reconsidered in light of the aims of a classical education.