In Praise of the Sage

The modern Western story is that real knowledge comes from science or careful reasoning, and anything else—the elder, the guru, the village wise woman—is suspect. But science and reflection themselves rest on a third, intuitive, embodied mode of knowing that we use constantly and pretend we don’t. The doctor and the guru are running on the same authority structure; the only difference is who’s allowed to wear the coat. Which means we’re picking our sages by taste instead of principle—and that’s how charlatans win. Not sure what I’ve got against linen trousers in this episode. Quite like them if I’m honest. Further reading In praise of the sage The scientific ritual (lecture) Mundane cults (lecture) It’s not ‘just’ a placebo Useful pharmacology How some psychics use psychology to screw you (Forer) AI hallucination is just man-guessing Moral blindspots Successful prophets Everything is ideology The charismatic leader (Weber) References Aristotle, Metaphysics John Dewey, Experience and Nature Richard Dawkins, TED: Militant atheism Bertram Forer, The fallacy of personal validation Phenotypic drug discovery Yann Martel, Life of Pi