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Wisdom is an essential but often forgotten virtue that has suffered from centuries of misunderstanding and been largely abandoned in contemporary society. Pursuing Wisdom explores philosophical, theological, and scientific traditions to present lessons for future leaders ready to shape the world in a successful and sustainable way.
List of contents
Chapter Detail
Preface and Introduction. The preface explains why a primer on the nature of wisdom is needed and provides and outline of each chapter.
Chapter One: The Philosophers' Pursuit
The chapter begins with overview of the field of philosophy and its love affair with wisdom. The chapter walks the readers through Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Plato's Republic and The Laws, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and Confucius' Analects. The chapter also references the works of Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes' treatment of wisdom from the Golden Age of Islam. The chapter concludes what the major philosophers had in common in their approaches to explain the nature of wisdom, albeit different content.
Chapter Two: Religious Perspectives
This chapter begins with an introduction to theology. The chapter walks the readers through wisdom as described in four major religions and their respective texts, The Vedas from Hinduism, the Hebrew Bible from Judaism, The Old and New Testament for Christianity, and the Quran for Islam. The chapter concludes with how the different theological texts share similar approaches to the nature of wisdom, albeit different content.
Chapter Three: The Influence of Social Science
This chapter begins with an overview of the empirical tradition. The chapter describes in detail the different research models on wisdom found in the social sciences: Ardelt's Three Dimension Personality Model of Wisdom, Baltes' Expert Theory of Wisdom, Sternberg's Balance Theory of Wisdom, and Pederson and Seligman's study of wisdom in the field of positive psychology. The chapter also reviews the hidden architecture governing all complex adaptive systems as described in complexity theory and makes corresponding connections to the models previously identified to reveal similar understandings on the nature of practical wisdom.
Chapter Four: Reinstating Wisdom
This chapter reveals how the philosophical, theological, and empirical traditions share striking similarities in their understanding of wisdom and provides a simple model to reinstate wisdom as a core element of our ongoing human education. With guidelines and specific practices to enable readers to understand, teach, and enact wisdom in their own lives, this chapter reinstates wisdom as a core value for all leaders.
About the author
John R. Shoup is professor of education and director of the Dr. Paul & Annie Kienel Leadership Institute at California Baptist University.
Jacqueline Gustafson is professor of psychology and the dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Troy Hinrichs is professor of criminal justice and fellow at the Dr. Paul & Annie Kienel Leadership Institute at California Baptist University.
Summary
Wisdom is an essential but often forgotten virtue that has suffered from centuries of misunderstanding and been largely abandoned in contemporary society. Pursuing Wisdom explores philosophical, theological, and scientific traditions to present lessons for future leaders ready to shape the world in a successful and sustainable way.
