Saturday, December 14, 2019

Wisdom, Prophecy, Prescription

King Solomon is well-known as a source of Wisdom.  But insofar as Philosophy is methodical or systematic, he is thus not also a Philosopher.  Regardless, he is also classified as a Prophet, a characterization that seemingly is not applicable to Philosophers.  However, Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche each project the future, so, in that respect, each is indeed a Prophet. Furthermore, like the Biblical Prophets, Marx and Nietzsche warn about the urgency of behavior-change.  Now, Prediction is not the only discourse about the future; Prescription is, too.  And, indeed, both the advice that Solomon offers in the Psalms, etc., and dire warnings about the need to change, are modes of Prescriptive expression.  So, Prescription is both wise and prophetic, and, further, is Philosophical insofar as it is methodically or systematically developed.  Conversely, it is because of the preponderance these days of Philosophers who insistently restrict themselves to Analysis that Philosophy has become commonly conceived as not concerned with Wisdom, i. e. is a misnomer.

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