Philosophy

Week 13 of Wisdom: Insight Through Contradiction

In the West, there has been a movement towards a society that is orderly and rational. Historically, the roots of this movement can be traced to the Enlightenment, when a fear of human intuition, emotion, and superstition led to a hyper-rational ethic that persists till this day.

May 25, 2021Philosophy

In the West, there has been a movement towards a society that is orderly and rational. Historically, the roots of this movement can be traced to the Enlightenment, when a fear of human intuition, emotion, and superstition led to a hyper-rational ethic that persists till this day. But this ethic can be a barrier towards gaining wisdom.

As Iain McGilchrist argues, in his book The Master and His Emissary, the East and West differ with regards to how they interpret reality. In the West, the emphasis is on taking a side. There is a winner and a loser, a correct argument and a false argument, and no room for contradiction. Whereas in the East, it is the opposite. Children are taught to understand the world through its contradictions. That is, contradictions are a source of trouble in the West, but in the East, they are a source of illumination.

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