GOVT 86.39 Practical Wisdom and Its Enemies: Why we need this master virtue, how we learn it, and what corrodes

The subject of this course is Practical Wisdom.  Throughout the course, we will be investigating five questions: (1) What is practical wisdom? (2) Why do we constantly need it to make tough ethical choices in everyday life? (3) How do we learn it? (4) How is it undermined by incentives, rules, and digital technology? (5) How can it be learned and protected in our everyday lives and in academic, professional and political institutions?

We will investigate these questions in several important domains of life—friendship, education, work, medicine, law, and politics.  We will look at classical and modern theories in philosophy and psychology about what practical wisdom is and how it is learned, and undermined.  Throughout the course, we will be contrasting decision-making that depends on practical wisdom, or judgment, with decision making that depends on rule-following and incentives.

Instructor

Sharpe

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:TMV

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