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This book derives from a 1993 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Knowledge, Teaching, and Wisdom. The Institute took place at the University of California, Berkeley, and was co-directed by Keith Lehrer and Nicholas D. Smith. The aims of the Institute were several: we sought to reintroduce wisdom as a topic of discussion among contemporary philosophers, to undertake an historical investigation of how and when and why it was that wisdom faded from philosophical view, and to ask how contemporary epistemological theories might apply to the obviously related subjects of teaching and wisdom. In recruiting participants, Lehrer and Smith put the greatest emphasis on those with professional interests in epistemology and the history of philosophy, of the ancient Greeks especially ancient Greek philosophy (because in the writings all three subjects of the Institute were explicitly related and discussed). But in addition to these two groups, some effort was made also to include others, with academic specializations in a variety of fields other than epistemology and the history of philosophy, to ensure that a broad perspective could be achieved in our discussions. To an obvious extent, the papers in this book reflect the recruitment emphases and variety. They also testify to the extent that the Institute managed to bring life to our subjects, and to raise very old questions in a contemporary context.
List of contents
1: "Knowledge, Teaching and Wisdom".- 2 "The Aims of the Socratic Elenchos".- 3 "What Good is Human Wisdom?".- 4: Which "Socratic Method"? Models of Education in Plato's Dialogues.- 5: "Socratic Teaching and the Search for Coherence".- 6: "The Teaching of Wisdom: The Platonic Model of Teacher as Learner & Teaching as Inquiry".- 7: "Wisdom and Ruling in the Republic".- 8: "Rediscovering Aquinas' Concept of Knowledge".- 9: "Hume's Positive Program".- 10: Justification and Knowledge.- 11: Justifying Basic Belief Forming Processes.- 12: Seeing, Believing and so Forth.- 13: "Who are You Going to Believe-Me or Your Own Eyes?" The Place of Testimony in Knowledge Acquisition.- 14: Knowing What You Believe.- 15: Skepticism, Mitigated Skepticism, And Contextualism.- 16: Why Don't Lovers of Wisdom Dare to Love?.- 17: Three Definitions of Wisdom.- 18: Wisdom.- 19: Metaphysical Skepticism and the Teaching of Philosophy.- 20: Teaching Wisdom.- 21: The Question of Wisdom in the Contemporary Academy.- Name Index.
