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Wise Forever

Practical philosophy through stories

Scott Monty

Jan 5, 2023

History is philosophy taught with examples. “It is the historian's function not to make us clever for the next time, but to make us wise forever.” — Jakob Burkhardt

It’s one thing to know facts and figures or to be able to verbally spar with a quip.

History is littered with examples of each, but when we can glimpse the throughlines, we begin to see entire structures rather than just outlines.

When you understand the implications of data or when you can thoughtfully arrange words as an artistic expression, you’ve moved from an accumulator of facts to a purveyor of wisdom.

And heaven knows we could use more wisdom these days.

While not everyone can be a philosopher, we can all choose to be wiser today than we were yesterday, and still wiser tomorrow.

“It is the historian's function not to make us clever for the next time, but to make us wise forever.” — Jakob Burkhardt