How to be Wise without Being a Wise-Guy: Developing the The ‘Infi-Net’

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to develop a metaphilsophical approach to wisdom by formulating a conceptual array (intra-personal, inter-personal, intra-cultural and inter-cultural) designed to apprehend an infinite whole – i.e., an ‘infi-net’. The key is to balance depth and breadth by having the conceptual array inter-connected with respect to itself at the same time that it is open to isomorphically similar sets that are also inter-connected. Wisdom here is a systemic way of breaking out of narrow and rigid ways of thinking by learning to use concepts that are broad in range but also sensitive to the differences that divide us. If the wise-guy is a cynic because the possibilities of an integrative overview are dismissed out of hand, the truly wise person is a creator of holistic perspectives that serve to facilitate communication.