Wisdom

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani starts from the double meaning of the Greek sophia, which is translated either as knowledge or as wisdom. The two terms can be opposed: the scholar says what is, the sage says what I must do, in the practical order1. Wisdom concerns desires. For marriage or war, one consults a sage and not a scholar, and the most learned person is not the best counsellor2. To know what one must do, an illiterate sage is therefore no worse placed than a Nobel laureate in physics3. According to him, philosophy aims at both knowledge and wisdom; otherwise it would belong to the CNRS. He distinguishes it from the Eastern wisdoms (Taoism, Confucianism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Zen, Sufism). These give answers, rest on a deep certainty and make no value judgement. Philosophy, by contrast, is love, and thus desire for and search for wisdom4. He also mentions "eternal wisdom" in the sense of an omniscience in which everything has its place.

1. 19 #11 Comment des sciences de l'histoire peuvent-elles être réelles?7 Jan 2021 · 1:06:22
2. 2La PHILO avec PAGANI : D comme DÉSIR29 May 2023 · 8:43
3. 3Ni gauche ni droite ? Islamo gauchisme ?17 Oct 2023 · 1:00:50
4. 4Les fondements de la distinction platonicienne et aristotélicienne5 May 2026 · 2:30

Summary produced automatically from 13 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.