~ TNFW ~ The Need For Wisdom

~ RAI-SAC-WEIT? ~ Rules And Incentives – Sticks And Carrots – What Else Is There?

~ TINDT-BRASI-HAIRTPIITWOIP-B-RAIANE-TLO-SE-PW-WTMI-N-R(NMHDAWM)-N-I(NMHC)-WBETSTPWF ~ There Is Not Doubt That – Better Rules And Smarter Incentives – Have An Important Role To Play In Improving The Way Our Institutions Perform – But – Rules And Incentives Are Not Enough – They Leave Out – Something Essential – Practical Wisdom – Without This Missing Ingredient – Neither – Rules (No Matter How Detailed And Well Monitored) – Nor – Incentives (No Matter How Clever) – Will Be Enough To Solve The Problems We Face

~ AW-DT-WBGB-TPAOGOAPA ~ Acting Wisely – Demands That – We Be Guided By – The Proper Aims Or Goals Of A Particular Activity

~ RAI-WT-M-SAW-EW-RCKS-A-ICKW ~ Rule And Incentives – Won’t Teach – Moral – Skill And Will – Even Worse – Rules Can Kill Skill – And – Incentives Can Kill Will

~ E-TCTIWSEITAF-ICFTPTPWD ~ Empathy – The Capacity To Imagine What Someone Else Is Thinking And Feeling – Is Critical For The Perception That Practical Wisdom Demands

~ EIB-CS-TATPTSAIIPBA-A-ES-TCTUWAPIF-TMSO-B-ATO-TRAITGOLAAAREFODM-ANTTSWSO ~ Empathy Involves Both – Cognitive Skill – The Ability To Perceive The Situation As It Is Perceived By Another – And – Emotional Skill – The Capacity To Understand What Another Person Is Feeling – This May Sound Obvious – But – All Too Often – The Rules And Incentives That Govern Our Lives Are All About Removing Emotion From Our Decision Making – About Not Trusting The Signals We’re Sending Ourselves

~ PWDMTTSTBPAO-IADTCTPO-TAWOOMA-TAOF-TFOWHWONAW ~ Practical Wisdom Demands More Than The Skill To Be Perceptive About Others – It Also Demands The Capacity To Perceive Oneself – To Assess What Our Own Motives Are – To Admit Our Failures – To Figure Out What Has Worked Or Not And Why

~ AWPKHTI-BCA-A-IRAP-ILOTPOEC ~ A Wise Person Knows How To Improvise – Balancing Conflicting Aims – And – Interpreting Rules And Principles – In Light Of The Particularities Of Each Context

~ AWPKHT-MEAAOR-TROETSWASCF-A-TIJWDI ~ A Wise Person Knows How To – Make Emotion An Ally Of Reason – To Rely On Emotion To Signal What A Situation Calls For – And – To Inform Judgment Without Distorting It

~ AWPIAEP-TBHTRE ~ A Wise Person Is An Experienced Person – Trained By Having The Right Experiences

~ SRFWDNW ~ Substituting Rules For Wisdom Does Not Work

~ HILARAFTUWTAA-TANIWTAA ~ However Important Laws And Rules Are For Telling Us What To Aim At – They Always Need Interpretation When They Are Applied

~ BHWCAK ~ Balancing Honesty With Care And Kindness

~ PW-R-NT-F-C-A-EEWO ~ Practical Wisdom – Requires – Nuanced Thinking – Flexibility – Creativity – And – Empathetic Engagement With Others

~ HBABWTCTBW-TRMAT-WTBD-B-TCMBCBTRKOE ~ Human Beings Are Born With The Capacity To Be Wise – The Raw Materials Are There – Waiting To Be Developed – But – This Capacity Must Be Cultivated By The Right Kind Of Experience

~ TCOMS-P-NT-AOC-TATIIWE-A-TEE ~ The Components Of Moral Skill – Perceptiveness – Nuanced Thinking – Appreciation Of Context – Their Ability To Integrate Intellect With Emotion – And – To Experience Empathy

~ IOAL? ~ Is Oversimplification A Lie?

~ FABF-TIOCTTCWUATJWM-FTUWIIAHUEWSBCWW-TCWHTFEUTDOOTMITTPWD-DWIRAAPCOEIRTTDWF ~ Framing And Being Framed – The Importance Of Context To The Categories We Use And The Judgments We Make – Frames Tell Us What Is Important And Help Us Establish What Should Be Compared With What – The Capacity We Have To Frame Enables Us To Do One Of The Most Important Things That Practical Wisdom Demands – Discern What Is Relevant About A Particular Context Or Event In Regard To The Decision We Face

~ LTFWHMUW-IWGFAOM-A-AATI-OFWGMP ~ Learning To Frame Well Helps Make Us Wise – If We Get Feedback About Our Mistakes – And – Are Attentive To It – Our Framing Will Grow More Perspicacious

~ NC/F/N:TATTWUTOAITW-WDIN-WDIE-TEUTPTPOCTPWD ~ Natural Categories / Frames / Narratives: These Are The Tools We Use To Organize And Interpret The World – We Do It Naturally – We Do It Effortlessly – They Enable Us To Perceive The Particularities Or Context That Practical Wisdom Demands

~ TWIG-NCEUTSG-JAAAR-FHUSR-A-IEOEOITCOOLBL-NEUTALALAMSOTEBU ~ The World Is Gray – Natural Categories Enable Us To See Gray – Judgments Are Almost Always Relative – Frames Help Us See Relations – And – Isolated Events Or Episodes Occur In The Context Of Ongoing Lives Being Lived – Narratives Enable Us To Appreciate Lives As Lived And Make Sense Of The Episode Before Us

~ WLHT-CAF-A-RAR-TOOE-A-BBAMWPMACOM ~ We Learn How To – Categorize And Frame – And – Recategorize And Reframe – Through Our Own Experiences – And – By Being Around Mentors Who Provide Models And Correct Our Mistakes

~ TWF:TVOE ~ Thinking With Feeling: The Value Of Empathy

~ IOTBATFWAPIF-YNTBATSTWATOPSI-TATTTPOA-D-PAI-E-TRTIO-TAF ~ In Order To Be Able To Feel What Another Person Is Feeling – You Need To Be Able To See The World As That Other Person Sees It – This Ability To Take The Perspective Of Another – Demands – Perception And Imagination – Empathy – Thus Reflects The Integration Of – Thinking And Feeling

~ TFTPSTH-MI-A-M-F-A-J-DNMTAJW-IMBS-S-TMBD-B-WT-IC-TEHE-TPWWNFDJWSBI ~ The Fact That People Seem To Have – Moral Intuitions – And – Make – Fast – Automatic – Judgments – Does Not Mean They Always Judge Wisely – Intuitions May Be Self-Serving – They May Be Distorting – But – Without The – Intuitive Capacity – That Emotions Help Enable – The Practical Wisdom We Need For Daily Judgments Would Simply Be Impossible

~ A-EISI-W-AF-AN-A-ALS-EFMEACT-AN-NMHBTN-A-IIO-EAC-OE-TCUTA ~ An – Explicitly Identified Single Individual – With – A Face – A Name – And – A Life Story – Elicits Far More Empathy And Compassion Than – A Number – No Matter How Big The Number – And – It Is Our – Empathy And Compassion – Our Emotions – That Compels Us To Act

~ A-S-PWIAAAWAJ-WCBPWWTETIUTA ~ And – Since – Practical Wisdom Is About Action As Well As Judgment – We Couldn’t Be Practically Wise Without The Emotion That Impels Us To Act

~ HTECFEEDMWUI-PCBPIIS-TCDEL-E-A-EOEL-F-E-A-AAPS-TIADTOCFPWWBU-PWDTDOTMSTPTTAFOO-TWPTFDWNTBDADTOTMTDI ~ Having The Emotional Capacity For Experiencing Empathy Doesn’t Mean We’ll Use It – People Can Be Put In Institutional Settings – That Can Discourage Emotions Like – Empathy – And – Encourage Other Emotions Like – Fear – Embarrassment – And Anxiety About Pleasing Superiors – There Is A Danger That Our Capacity For Practical Wisdom Will Be Undermined – People Won’t Develop The Disposition Or The Moral Skill To Perceive The Thoughts And Feelings Of Others – This Will Prevent Them From Discerning What Needs To Be Done And Drain Them Of The Motivation To Do It

~ PCLTB-EI-TCLTBP:TDTEO-O-O-T-I-AW-ATOV-AG ~ People Can Learn To Be – Emotionally Intelligent – They Can Learn To Be Perceptive: To Detect The Emotions Of – Others – Or – Themselves – In – A Word – A Tone Of Voice – A Glance

~ PR:UAO-WMOOOTCBCTRP ~ Pattern Recognition: Unseen And Omnipresent – We Make Order Out Of The Chaos By Coming To Recognize Patterns

~ HWAMMOO-EMD:Q-A-WACROROD-MP ~ How We Actually Make Most Of Our – Everyday Moral Decisions: Quickly – And – Without A Conscious Reliance On Rules Or Decision-Making Procedures

~ AIIF-A-NFIN ~ All Information Is Framed – And – No Frame Is Neutral

~ PAOICWOAANTBB-I-RRADP-MTPWWNTIAB-WAPFCW ~ Principles Are Often In Conflict With One Another And Need To Be Balance – If – Rigid Rules And Dogmatic Principles – Marginalize The Practical Wisdom We Need To Interpret And Balance – We Are Prevented From Choosing Well