Critical Analysis of Knowledge and Wisdom by Bertrand Russell

Introduction

Bertrand Russell was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, writer, etc. He was born in 1872 and died in 1970. He is among the greatest prose writers of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. He is a perfect example of both a philosopher and writer who widened the subject matter in literature by including ethics, morality, philosophy, social issues, economy, and political topics into his writings, i.e., essays. The essay ‘Knowledge and Wisdom’ comprises a complex subject matter of Wisdom and knowledge. How is wisdom different from knowledge? What factors contribute to wisdom? And how can wisdom be taught?
 

Main ideas

The writer starts with stating that knowledge has increased multifold since ancient times, but wisdom has not increased commensurately. Writers then state various factors that contribute to wisdom.
 
Factors of wisdom:

1. First of all, a sense of proportion; the capacity to take all factors of a problem under consideration and give due weight to them. He thinks that due to the complexity of knowledge in the current world, it is not easy to focus on every aspect or consequence of a research work or project. Hence, while pursuing knowledge, we should have wisdom to not let that knowledge fall in wrong hands or understand the consequences of that knowledge. E.g., Knowledge of atoms led to the atomic bomb.
2. Comprehensiveness alone is not enough to constitute wisdom. You should have wider feelings along with comprehensive knowledge. Hegel’s philosophy of history was not lacking in comprehensiveness, but he had narrow and biased feelings. Due to that, his perception was that Germany was the most important country in the world since 400 A.D.
3. Appropriate Goals without personal prejudice – One should determine their goal of life on the basis of not only its importance to society but also whether it’s achievable or not. E.g., Philosopher’s stone and Elixir of life.
4. Emancipation from the tyranny of the current world, i.e., evils (greed, selfishness, etc.) of the current world. It is impossible to become completely impartial in life, but a person should try to achieve a certain degree of impartiality.
5. Wisdom can be taught and should be included in education. To deal with evils, it is necessary to use maximum understanding and minimum force so that you do not contribute to increasing evil. In this manner, wisdom will come to you, and you will be able to impart it to others. Queen Elizabeth I, Henry IV, and Abraham Lincoln used this method, and it worked.

Writing Style

Bertrand Russell’s essays are not easy to understand conceptually, but Russell wrote them in such easy, lucid, and layman’s language that they are understandable to everyone. He doesn’t rely on unorthodox or difficult terminology to explain his ideas. To explain his concepts, he uses a lot of apt examples.

Conclusion

A certain degree of wisdom can be taught, and it is done by incorporating larger intellectual elements in the teaching process than the traditional method we use to teach morality in life. We must understand that with increasing levels of knowledge, wisdom should also increase to protect this world from disastrous consequences.