Reflection: its practical purposes

Don’t you want to be more rounded, successful and clever. Of course you do!  Everything in this institute tends in this direction if you have half a mind to take it seriously. Our way of life will be enhanced in a practical sense if we allow ourselves the chance of more reflection.

We need not take anything for granted and, by questioning things, our own beliefs included, people can come up with new ideas, new theories; better ideas, better theories. We can bring them to bear on our careers, our political systems, our decisions in romance. We can adjust tactics, and strategy and much more, in the process transforming our lives.

The progenitor by the cradle of so much of Western Civilisation, Aristotle, if watching, might give two cheers to see modern lifestyles, and the reason he would not give three cheers is that, top of the tree for Aristotle were three virtues: Practical Wisdom; an Understanding of how to live life well and ethically; and Technical Wisdom.

Practical Wisdom for Aristotle is the most important!

The surprising thing is that we do not think more about practical wisdom per se given that it leads to where most of us want to go.  It is sometimes assumed without much reflection that anything that smacks of a training for practical wisdom cannot be done other than in an ad hoc or piecemeal way.  The ‘real’ world is in the forefront of our focus not abstractions like ‘Practical thinking as a methodology’.  If we want justifications for good practical decisions we look to the circumstances of any given case. It is as if we are bent on treating symptoms not causes. We assume that we pick up on the key aspects of our lives while ‘on the job’. 

Wisdom in practical action, even downright common sense, is not taught in schools.  Who after all would include it in a curriculum; what form could its implementation take? 

There are nowadays many courses for ‘Self-help’, which is almost a paradox. Shrinks, gurus, life-coaches; studies galore guide us as to how to lead sensible lives. There is no central forum for discussion at the moment about this central aspect of our lives: acquiring practical wisdom.

There are many ways to learn how challenging situations are faced by others. The theatre is an example, and novels. Television is not so helpful in that part of the use of ‘lessons’ in the theatre or in the act of reading come from the effort that is being made, rather than sitting back on a couch. Chess helps one to think patiently in a logical way; board games such as Cluedo afford practice at unravelling mysteries.

The theorist might go in for something more airy-fairy but a workaday Practical Man is likely to say that the question of ‘how we should live our life’ is the only useful purpose of philosophy; he might add ‘if any’. You however wouldn’t be like him if you are curious enough to be reading this book.

Common sense may be innate, wisdom acquired by learning lessons of experience, but the fact is that they can be enriched and enhanced by training and by acquiring the right habits of mind.

Raphael painted ‘The School of Athens’; central are Plato, his arm pointing upwards, symbolically at the heavens, with Aristotle whose arm is pointing toward us, suggestive of our earthly concerns.

The tried and tested advice for how to face up to practical situations is there for all of us in our culture; the question is of whether we take it seriously enough. We should look before we leap.

You and I may like to set store by our chosen formulae in life but critical thinking can kick in leaving the belief in tatters, if we are unflinchingly honest.