Sophia's world: episodes from the history of wisdom

Curnow, Trevor (2008) Sophia's world: episodes from the history of wisdom. In: Ferrari, Michel and Potworowski, Georges, (eds.) Teaching for wisdom: cross-cultural perspectives on fostering wisdom. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 1-19. Full text not available from this repository.

(Contact the author)
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6532-3_1

Abstract

Can wisdom be taught? Perhaps, in the cautionary words of Effi Briest’s father, ‘That is too big a subject’ (Fontane, 1967, p. 267). Nevertheless, this historical introduction will attempt to say something about how this ‘too big a subject’ was thought about and approached in the past. When the subject is wisdom, the past goes back a very long way, and in order to make the task manageable it has been necessary to restrict its scope in a variety of ways. Because non-western and modern approaches to wisdom are covered elsewhere in this book, I have limited myself to what can very loosely be called the Western history of wisdom, and shall have little to say about it after the modern period begins. I have further limited myself to a number of selected and illustrative episodes from this history, although I hope that they are sufficient to give some sense of continuity and coherence.

Item Type: Book Section
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9781402065323
Departments: Institute of Arts > Humanities
Depositing User: Insight Administrator
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2011 12:38
Last Modified: 11 Jan 2024 20:31
URI: https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/1026
Edit Item