The Unconsidered Life by A.C. Grayling

4 thoughts on “The Unconsidered Life by A.C. Grayling”

  1. Ah, yes, Luis. Good stuff! When I was but a young lad (or young Ladd) I determined the only thing truly worthy of striving for (above all else, including fame and fortune) was wisdom. Knowing I could never self-declare as a “wise” man, I found it provided me with a quiet and comfortable acceptance of the aging process. Now that I’m 62, I find it still does so.

    However, nothing has so sharpened the consideration of my life as becoming a first-time adoptive father at the tender age of 55. The responsibilities I feel for their future has quite literally turned my life and, especially, my career, around.

    I would like to point out the musing of Dr. Russell Ackoff, who died last October at the age of 90. He used the concept of a spectrum of learning which started with data and proceeded through information, knowledge, understanding and, finally, wisdom. I once read (from whom I can’t quite recall) with respect to business, we may have the knowledge and understanding of how to make a particular product, but we need wisdom to decide if we actually should make it. I hope that makes sense to you. I think the concept is equally applicable to all things in life.

    As always, thanks so much for your insightful posting. I note you kept this one rather short 😉

    1. Hi Rick! WOW! What a great bunch of comments and feedback! I must confess I never saw wisdom in the same sense as you describe above (Always thought it’s a continuous learning process that matures over time and with age; not even sure one could reach it before a certain age and set of experiences). I can surely agree with your statements, though, they make perfect sense and surely something to go by!

      I know what you mean about those responsibilities you mentioned (They are gorgeous!!) and you surely are spot on with Ackoff’s thoughts on what’s perhaps the next frontier for us all with regards to progressing further into that Knowledge Economy that everyone seems to keep talking about, but that we seem to keep neglecting time and time again under that “Knowledge is power”. Maybe, we need to start thinking we should look up for that wisdom and start making it sooner, rather than later… Don’t you think?

      (Yes, this post was on the short side of things! hehe)

  2. Good clip Luis. By coincidence I got my first A.C. Grayling book from the library yesterday.

    What he, and Russel, say about thinking is so important. If our schools spent time teaching critical thinking skills we would all be better off.

    I’ll get off my soapbox now. 🙂 Thanks for posting the clip.

    1. Hiya, Tony! How are ya? Hope things are going all right with you! I couldn’t have agreed more with your comments above! Coming myself from a teaching background, I can imagine how, if I ever come back to it, and it will happen at some point, what I am surely going to try to get the message across is that spirit of inspiring critical thinking, because somehow it feels like the right thing to do, and after watching this video clip… ever so much more!

      Thanks for sharing that thought across and speak to you soon! 🙂

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