Ep 6 -- LP -- Wisdom - A Very Valuable Virtue with Jason Merchey

The Philosophists

Wisdom... an old and dusty concept that has fallen down the pecking order in today's world. As a result, it's no surprise that many feel our civilisation is slipping ever deeper into an idiocracy. Well, this episode aims to single-handedly arrest that slide... and bring wisdom back into fashion! To this end, we have enlisted the talents of Jason Merchey, who literally wrote the book on wisdom. In fact, he's written four, including his latest work - Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought. Given his lifelong study of this subject, Jason helps us tackle wisdom from many angles. He uses a supporting cast of wise quotations from down through the ages to prevent us losing sight of what wisdom really means - and why it is indeed a most valuable virtue.
More About Jason
In addition to being a philosophical thinker and author, Jason is a master’s level psychologist, proponent of the research ideal, social critic, author / essayist / blogger, and a student of the tradition of arts and letters. You can buy Jason's latest book on Amazon (or enter our competition - see below!) or follow his work via his website.

Note: This episode supports a "Chapters" feature, which is available in the web player and many podcast apps.
Main Talking Points

• What is wisdom?
• Capitalism, Sisyphus and higher values
• The usefulness of philosophy
• The power of quotations
• Effective truth-seeking
• The wisdom and anti-wisdom of intuition
• Is America wise or unwise?
• Wisdom vs common sense
• Changing opinions, changing climate
• The knowing nod of older Ireland (and why some things may be best left unsaid)
• Respecting elders but perhaps not their ideas
• Conflating status with wisdom
• Real wisdom, real estate, and investing
• What can Foucault, Trump and Mussolini teach us about Irish house prices?
• Staying sane in an insane world

Other Links

• The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck (1978) A very influential book on psychology that Jason cites
• Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience by Stephen S Hall (2010) A book on wisdom with a big impact on Jason's philosophical thinking
• The myth of Sisyphus by Alex Gendler (TED Ed) Wonderfully illustrated video of this mythic tale
• Jason's Wisdom Search Engine - a quote database that around 36,000 quotes for you to explore
• Stanford Prison Experiment - a highly unethical study to analyse behavioural effects in a two-week simulation of a prison environment (wikipedia)
• The Stanley Milgram Experiment: How Far Will You Go to Obey an Order
• Citizens United Supreme Court Decision (wikipedia)

Competition
Send us in your favourite quotation - and why it is - to be in the running to win one of the 3 copies of Jason's book that he is kindly giving away to listeners! Enter using our contact details below.
Show Info, Contact Details & Credits
See here.

Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. About Jason Merchey - from difficult beginnings to philosophical thinkings (00:03:54)

3. Capitalism, Sisyphus and higher values (00:11:05)

4. The usefulness of philosophy (00:13:38)

5. Athens and the wonder of ancient Greek philosophy (00:16:42)

6. Did twentieth century philosophy drop the ball? (00:19:57)

7. The power of quotations (and Jason's Wisdom Search Engine) (00:25:06)

8. What makes a good quote (and what is wisdom)? (00:33:40)

9. Effective truth seeking (and the wisdom and anti-wisdom of intuition) (00:38:21)

10. Is America wise or unwise? (00:50:10)

11. Is there a relationship between wisdom and common sense? (00:52:44)

12. The knowing nod of older Ireland (00:57:14)

13. Respecting elders but perhaps not their ideas (01:03:07)

14. Conflating status with wisdom (01:07:38)

15. Real wisdom, real estate, and investing (01:12:45)

16. What can Foucault (and - from earlier in the conversation - Trump & Mussolini) teach us about Irish house prices? (01:17:39)

17. Money values Vs life values (01:22:15)

18. Staying sane in an insane world (01:31:10)

19. Competition Time! (01:36:04)