Whenever things go wrong in some area of our public life—whether it be healthcare, education, or finance—we reach for two tools to solve the problem: more and better rules, or more and better incentives. But neither rules nor incentives are up to the task. What is needed is virtue—character—and a particular aspect of character that Aristotle called “practical wisdom.”
This talk will show why wisdom is essential, and argue that rules and incentives may solve problems in the short term, but that they threaten wisdom, thus making the problems worse in the long term.
Speaker:
- Barry Schwartz, Professor of Psychology at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.
Friday 12 June 12:15 - 13:00