CAMPUS

Wisdom vs. Knowledge

I am intrigued by the distinction you made between knowledge and wisdom.  You said “We are seeking wisdom here, not just knowledge.”  I wonder what the relationship between the two is and what part the university has to play in it.  Surely knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and in fact it is not necessary for wisdom.  There are many people who have not had a college education who are very wise, and vice versa.  So the question we need to address is: Do we go to a university to become wise?

Re: Ideas have Consequences

Are you sure the purpose of a university is to advance knowledge, not preserve it? Perhaps scientific research is an exception, but the purpose of a university is to expose students to the great minds and thoughts of the Western Tradition. Educating is different from researching. Now, I think there is room for professors to do research if, as you say, their primary focus is to educate students. But I think there are other and better ways of advancing scientific research than through a university.

There is more than enough wisdom and knowledge to learn, consider, question, and wrestle with in the past three thousand years. Universal knowledge requires a strong core in the history of ideas before intense and narrow specialization like we have in most colleges today.

One perspective on Newman

While the purpose of a university is obviously to increase knowledge, I think it is important to understand its limitations. I think one of Henry Newman’s most important claims is:

“Quarry the granite rock with razors,
or moor the vessel with a thread of silk;
then may you hope with such keen and
delicate instruments as human knowledge
and human reason to contend against
those giants, the passion and the pride
of man.”