In Pursuit of Practical Wisdom: Making Good Judgments in a Wicked World

We define Practical Wisdom as the capacity that enables good judgements to be made, and consider, properly, how to deal better with the world in which they are engaged. The world in which all of us are asked to make decisions is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). This VUCA world is suffused with ‘wicked problems’, multitudinous, often divergent vested interests and clashing perspectives. It is a wicked world where there is no science of choice to assist us, nor any firm ground of truth on which to stand. The book aims to address the ‘how’ of good judgement, and the ‘how’ of becoming practically wise, to better deal with this VUCA world.

Practical wisdom is neither some magical superpower, nor another ‘intelligence’, nor an innate capability. One is not born wise, and age does not necessarily make one wise. In Pursuit of Practical Wisdom attempts to focus on the development of the conduct necessary to be a ‘good’ judge. It unpacks and operationalises the ancient conception of practical wisdom into a nexus of understandable and ‘attackable’ dispositions and capabilities that a good judge pursues.

The book contains exercises and activities to assist readers in developing dispositions and capabilities that constitute practical wisdom and underpin good judgement. A bibliography for each chapter is included.