90. Wisdom, Slowness, and the Avoidance of Intellectual Stumbling

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Nature of Wisdom and Slowness #

• Wisdom (sapientia) derives from sapor (taste) and means sapida scientia—savory knowledge
• Wisdom is characterized by slowness, but this slowness is distinct from:
  • Stupidity or dumbness (slowness of the mind)
  • Foolish hesitation (being slow to act when one should act)
• The slowness of wisdom is a deliberate, careful lingering—like savoring wine or hard candy
• Wisdom is most exemplified in the knowledge of God, which must be savored, not rushed

Seven Places Where the Wise Proceed Slowly #

Berquist identifies seven contexts requiring deliberate slowness to avoid intellectual stumbling:

1. When Many Things Must Be Considered Before Judgment

   • Example: The Pythagorean theorem (Euclid, Book I, Proposition 47) requires understanding 46 preceding theorems
   • In moral decisions, one must weigh all circumstances and situations
   • Monsignor Diøn’s analysis of birth control discourse: multiple discourses from theology, philosophy, and science must be considered before judgment
   • Most people jump to conclusions without considering all necessary elements

2. When Something Is Difficult to Know

   • Aristotle (Book II of Metaphysics) identifies two causes of difficulty:
     • Difficulty in the thing itself: matter, motion, time “hardly are” and are thus difficult to understand
     • Difficulty in the weakness of our mind: God is most knowable but least knowable to us due to our weakness; Scripture: “God dwells in light inaccessible”
   • Modern philosophers (Descartes, Locke) stumble by dismissing the definition of motion as unnecessary
   • If one does not understand motion distinctly, one cannot understand nature (defined by motion) or the argument for the unmoved mover

3. When a Small Beginning Has Great Power

   • The axioms “It is impossible to be and not be” and “It is necessary to be or not be” are small in size but extend to all knowledge
   • A small mistake at the beginning magnifies throughout all subsequent reasoning
   • Analogy: taking the wrong road at a fork—little distance at the start becomes great distance later
   • Thomas Aquinas’s reputation as the “dumb ox” reflects his careful attention to foundational principles; once he mastered these foundations, he proceeded “in an unstoppable way”
   • In theology, mistakes about the Trinity affect all subsequent theological reasoning

4. When Knowledge Follows a Road

   • All knowledge follows a road from senses to reason
   • Logic is the common road; each science has its own private road
   • One must know the road before following it well
   • Aristotle and Plato (in Timaeus) emphasize knowing the road of inquiry
   • Modern philosophers often wander rather than follow the right road

5. When There Is Movement from General to Particular Knowledge

   • Must move from confused to distinct knowledge at the level of the general first
   • Example: Define triangle in general before descending to equilateral, isosceles, scalene
   • Define virtue in general before discussing particular virtues (courage, chastity, etc.)
   • Most thinkers jump directly from confused general knowledge to particular knowledge

6. When Words Are Equivocal by Reason

   • Book V of Aristotle’s Metaphysics distinguishes the central meanings of equivocal words
   • Common words like ‘in,’ ‘out,’ ‘being,’ ‘one,’ ‘part,’ ‘whole,’ ’end’ are equivocal by reason and carry multiple ordered meanings
   • Most people use these words without understanding their multiplicity and hierarchy
   • The fallacy of equivocation causes constant stumbling in thinking
   • Example: The word ‘run’ has multiple senses—physical motion of legs, action/course, and (by extension through discourse, running of the mind) intellectual operation

7. When Reading the Words of Wise Men

   • Thomas Aquinas: read Aristotle and Augustine “carefully, frequently, and with reverence”
   • One never completely unfolds all meaning in the words of Christ or other wise figures
   • Example from John’s Gospel: ‘In the beginning was the Word’—this captures profound theological truth that cannot be rushed through
   • Shakespeare says things so well they cannot be improved upon

Key Arguments #

The Equation of Stumbling with Abuse #

• Shakespeare: “What revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse” (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3)
• To stumble is to fall into error by abusing things contrary to their true nature (vera natio, true birth)
• Examples of abuse: misusing hands for drugs, misusing vocal cords for lies, misusing sexual organs
• This principle connects to modern philosophy’s revolt from three natural things: wonder, the natural road of knowledge, and the axioms

Wisdom Characterized by Savoring, Not Speed #

• Opposite of wisdom is not speed but “bitter conduct” and “unsavory guide” (Shakespeare)
• When Romeo hastens to take poison in despair, he calls reason his “desperate pilot” who has run the ship “on the dashing rocks”
• The wise man savors knowledge, lingering over it as one lingers over fine wine or candy
• This is why Augustine and Thomas linger over mysteries like the Trinity—not from confusion but from reverence and understanding

Small Mistakes at the Beginning Multiply Throughout #

• Aristotle and Thomas often state: “Even to make a small mistake in the beginning is a great one in the end”
• This explains why foundational work (like studying the Isagoge of Porphyry) is essential
• Thomas draws upon the Isagoge even in the Summa Contra Gentiles when reasoning about God and creatures
• Modern dismissal of foundational principles (axioms, motion, definition) cascades into errors throughout subsequent philosophy

Important Definitions #

• Wisdom (Sapientia): Sapida scientia — savory knowledge; knowledge that is tasted and lingered over rather than rushed through; characterized by slowness and reverence, especially concerning God
• True Birth (Vera Natio): The essential nature or natural purpose of a thing; to revolt from true birth is to abuse things contrary to their nature and inevitably stumble
• Equivocal by Reason: Words with multiple related meanings that follow a logical order or hierarchy (distinct from equivocal by chance, where meanings are unrelated)
• The Road of Knowledge: The ordered path from sensory perception through reason to intellectual understanding; each science has its own private road; logic is the common road
• Slowness of Wisdom: Deliberate care and lingering in thinking; distinct from stupidity (slowness of the mind) and foolish hesitation (being slow to act when one should act)

Examples & Illustrations #

From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3 #

• Friar Lawrence’s counsel to Romeo: “Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast”
  • This couples wisdom with slowness while identifying stumbling with haste
  • Contrasts with stupidity: there is a slowness of dumbness and a slowness of wisdom
  • Comparison: Thomas Aquinas called the “dumb ox” by fellow students; Albert the Great saw his slowness as wisdom, not stupidity
• Romeo’s haste before taking poison: “Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide, thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark”
  • Shakespeare illustrates the opposite of wisdom: bitter (not savory), unsavory, desperate
  • The pilot (reason) runs the ship on rocks through haste
• Friar Lawrence on plants: “For nought so vile that on the earth doth live, but to the earth some special good doth give”
  • Illustrates the principle that all things have their true nature and purpose; abuse revolts from this

From Geometry and Mathematics #

• Euclid’s Pythagorean Theorem: Proposition 47 in Book 1 requires understanding 46 preceding theorems
  • Demonstrates why one cannot rush to judgment in geometry
  • Shows the ordered nature of mathematical knowledge

From Literature and History #

• Edgar Allan Poe, “The Purloined Letter”: Comparison of great minds and small minds
  • Small mind is like a small body: easily set in motion but easily stopped (like a ping-pong ball)
  • Great mind is like a large body: difficult to set in motion but, once moving, very difficult to stop
  • Great minds are careful about foundational things at the beginning; this patience then allows unstoppable progress

From Church History and Vatican II #

• Monsignor Diøn’s analysis of birth control discourse: He enumerated the various discourses (theological, philosophical, scientific) that must be completed before judgment
  • Demonstrates the first place where wise men proceed slowly
  • Shows modern tendency to jump to conclusions without considering all necessary elements

Notable Quotes #

“Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.” — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3

“Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide, thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark.” — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

“What revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.” — Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3

“Even to make a small mistake in the beginning is a great one in the end.” — Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas

“With the truth, everything harmonizes.” — Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1

“Miserable the man who knows all things but doesn’t know God… Blessed the man who knows God even if he knows nothing else.” — Augustine

“Read Aristotle and Augustine carefully, frequently, and with reverence.” — Thomas Aquinas

Questions Addressed #

What is the relationship between wisdom and slowness? #

• Wisdom necessarily involves slowness because wisdom is sapida scientia—savory knowledge that must be tasted and lingered over
• This slowness is distinct from the slowness of stupidity (a defect of mind) and from foolish hesitation (being slow to act when one should act)
• The wise person savors knowledge, especially of God, and therefore cannot and should not rush
• True wisdom manifests in careful deliberation over many considerations, in patience with things difficult to know, and in reverence for foundational truths

Why do modern philosophers stumble? #

• They reject the natural desire to know (wonder), as Hobbes and Marx explicitly do
• They dismiss the natural road of knowledge without understanding it
• They attack the axioms that ground all reasoning (e.g., Bertrand Russell’s attack on “the whole is greater than the part”)
• They fail to understand words equivocal by reason and use them without grasping their multiple meanings
• They jump from confused general knowledge directly to particular knowledge without proper deliberation
• Examples: Descartes dismisses Aristotle’s definition of motion as unnecessary; Locke claims motion cannot be defined

How does one avoid stumbling in thinking? #

• Proceed slowly when many things must be considered before judgment can be made
• Recognize when something is difficult to know (either in the thing itself or due to the weakness of our mind) and proceed with corresponding care
• Attend carefully to small beginnings that have great power—foundational axioms and principles
• Know the road of knowledge and follow it rather than wandering
• Move deliberately from general to particular knowledge, avoiding premature descent to particulars
• Understand the multiple meanings of equivocal words and their hierarchical ordering
• Read the words of wise men with reverence, care, and lingering attention

Connections to Other Lectures #

• References back to earlier discussion of the definition of motion (Books 6-8 of Physics)
• Connects to the axiom of non-contradiction from Book 4 of Aristotle’s Metaphysics
• Relates to foundational work on predicables from Porphyry’s Isagoge
• Connects wisdom to the contemplative knowledge of God discussed in theology