A famous philosopher has been teaching his students about politics and ethics for years. His students dislike him since he constantly belittles their intellect and brags about his.
One day, a young girl musters up the courage in class to ask him a simple question: “How does one gain wisdom?”
This catches the philosopher off-guard. He doesn’t know what to say and tries to explain that he doesn’t know the answer to her question since he focuses on ethics and political philosophy, and not epistemology.
The girl is surprised, “You brag about how smart you are and how dumb we are, but you can’t answer the simple question of how one gains wisdom?!!”
The class bursts into laughter.
The next day, the philosopher confronts the girl, “The only reason I couldn’t answer your question yesterday was because I didn’t have time to think about it, otherwise, the answer is simple: You gain wisdom from introspection.
In fact, this is the only way to gain wisdom.”
The girl smirks, “Are you sure? If we can only gain wisdom by thinking on our own, then why are we taking classes from you?”
The philosopher is speechless and the class starts to laugh at him again.
A humbled philosopher comes to class the next day and addresses the girl, “I apologize for having been so arrogant over the years. I hope you can forgive me. You have taught me an important lesson: You can gain wisdom from others. ”
The girl is pleased but decides to gloat, “You are a fool. I know far more than you ever did and should be teaching this class since there is nothing more you can teach me.”
The philosopher sees his opening, “Really? I was about to teach a third way to gain wisdom that neither of us has mentioned. But I guess you can tell us.”
The girl regrets her boast, “I can’t…” Her classmates snicker. After an embarrassingly long pause, she asks, “What is it?”
“You can gain wisdom from experience. The experience of being embarrassed in front of this class for boastfulness has taught me humility. I hope it teaches the same to you too.”
Confucius has said, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” There are other ways to gain wisdom too, but I think these three are a good start.
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