Wisdom Entails Consistency

A professor at the University of Oklahoma has written a brilliant book about Socrates' epistemological theory.  He might be all wrong, but he's a damn good writer and it's a well thought out and compelling book.  

One things he tries to prove is that part (or maybe most - I didn't get to the end yet) of Socrates' epistemology is that wisdom entails consistency.  That is, a person who has true wisdom will not have inconsistent beliefs.  That's why in the Socratic dialogues, essentially all he has to do is show that some of the interlocutor's own beliefs contradict some other belief (namely, the belief in question that is the topic of the dialogue).

This sounds pretty familiar.  The rabbis of the Talmud (early and late) had much the same epistemological theory!  That's why it bothered them so much if the Bible seemed to contradict itself, or if one rabbi seemed to contradict another.  If the Bible as a whole, and the rabbinic project as a whole, are to bear wisdom and truth, they cannot bear inconsistencies.  

It is a sound epistemological theory.  I shall write about it in my dissertation.

But.

It does not apply to emotional or practical life.  I feel two contradictory things at once -  nothing's wrong.  (Actually, something's right: I am not forcing one to acquiesce to the other.)  I make a decision today that does not accord with my decisions yesterday -  nothing's wrong.  (Actually, something's right: I'm able to live a full and experimental and adventurous life.)  

Epistemology is great.  But it should not confused with anything other than epistemology.  

Back to dissertation work.... Later alligators.