Idea 99: Three elements of practical wisdom
A great alchemist created the gold of practical wisdom by fusing in the crucible of his imagination intelligence, experience and goodness.
The Greeks had a word for this combination of intelligence, experience and goodness in practical affairs: phronesis. This was translated into Latin as prudential and thence into English as prudence. A better translation today is practical wisdom.
Intelligence
In this context, to be intelligent means to be able:
- To see the point.
- To sense relationships and analogies quickly.
- To identify the essentials in a complex picture.
- To ‘put two and two together’.
- To find the salient factors in past experience that are helpful in shedding light on present difficulties.
- To be able ...
