title: Synthetic wisdom.
abstract: Wisdom is a special kind of virtue. It is not to be identified with any outstanding cognitive ability-like having a prodigious memory or knowing a lot. Rather it consists in seeing what is most important and most valuable, either within a particular domain or in life as a whole. In the life of a wise person, that insight should be accompanied by traits of character, enabling the person to pursue what is seen as valuable. Viewing wisdom as a capacity for synthetic understanding, I argue for the need for philosophy, even at a time when all of us have much to learn from the sciences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, Columbia University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kitcher
mesh_terms: D003405:Creativity; D006801:Humans; D010684:Philosophy; D011340:Problem Solving; D028722:Virtues
keywords: Duhem; Plato; Socrates; character; philosophy; wisdom