Teaching for Wisdom Teaching for Wisdom Cross-cultural Perspectives on Fostering Wisdom Michel Ferrari Editor Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto, ON, Canada Georges Potworowski Editor University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Georges Potworowski University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI, USA
[email protected] Michel Ferrari Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto ON, Canada
[email protected] ISBN: 978-1-4020-6531-6 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-6532-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007936373 c 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com Preface The chapters in this volume are all devoted to a single question: Can wisdom be taught, or at least fostered? They span many different traditions and times, which generates both problems and opportunities. The most obvious problem is that of translation. As Curnow points out in the opening chapter, the word ‘wisdom’ is used to translate a variety of terms from antiquity that have only a partial overlap with modern work. It is interesting to consider that the Egyptian word ‘seboyet’ translates as either wisdom or instruction. The same is true of terms from Buddhism or Confucianism, or even the Ancient Greek tradition acknowledged as a source of most current views of wisdom in the West; all the terms drawn from other languages and traditions have only partially overlapping meaning. With this in mind, each chapter can be read independently of the others. However, we have also arranged them in an order that reflects common themes that emerge despite this diversity. We have not arranged them by geographical region, or historical time, but rather by the sort of educational strategy they advocate to fos