The Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom | Albert Camus

Albert Camus once said,

“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.”

This is a great distinction because it highlights the key difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge is knowing about stuff. And the more knowledge you have simply amounts to more knowing about stuff. It’s data collecting.

Wisdom, on the other hand, is understanding how your mind uses that data through observation.

Psychologists now have a scientific term for this “mind watches itself” behavior.It was introduced in the 1970s asmeta-cognition.

Which, if we were in Camus’ day, existentialists would’ve likened it to the term, phenomenology. But for us as 21st century world-walkers, meta-cognition can be best understood translated to the more frequently used term, self-awareness.

Self-awareness is not only being capable of feeling your emotions, it’s also being capable of observing yourself feeling your emotions. To be able to stand back, somewhat objectively, and observe thoughts as they arise.

Okay, I hear ya.

So what’s the advantage of doing this, right?

Where exactly is the wisdom in that?

Well, the wisdom here first involves being in a position to not just have beliefs, but being able to question those beliefs.

You see, being an objective observer of your own mind — being self-aware — means that you’re not left helplessly subject to identify yourself with a belief or thought as soon as it arises in your consciousness. Instead, you’re able to put the you-who-holds-an-identity-claim on trial for further inspection.

And this is a crucial point worth stressing:

You cannot observe or critique what you identify with so long as you’re identified with it; it’s only when you step away from yourself, away from the identity claim, that you can assess it with any kind of objective power.

I’ll say it again:

The subject must become the object if it’s to be objectively observed and assessed.

This is the whole power of self-awareness/meta-cognition.

Now, I’m assuming it’s not necessary to thoroughly explain the value of questioning your own beliefs. So suffice it to say, if you don’t sufficiently practice self-awareness, you’re essentially missing out on the advantage of being an evolved human — of having a developed pre-fontal cortex.

Because the whole point of intelligence starts at self-awareness.

As Aristotle once said,

The mark of an intelligent person is one who can entertain a thought without accepting it.

So in short, according to Aristotle and Camus,

Self-awareness leads you down the path to intelligence. And in turn, intelligence leads you down the path to wisdom.

Now, I know what you might be thinking:

This is all well and good, but it doesn’t exactly get to the question you mentioned earlier—so where is the wisdom in doing this meta-cognition, self-awareness stuff?

Well, in building self-awareness into a habit by standing outside of your belief(s), what you simultaneously build is an increasing comfort for being uncertain. Let’s call this a development of healthy skepticism.

Now without healthy skepticism, bad ideas tend to prevail in the absence of good evidence. And as history has shown, a sufficient number of bad ideas is the first step toward tyranny.

All you need are the following ingredients:

• 1 cup of ideology,

• 1–3 servings of dogmatic leaders (pre-blended in outrage and passion for best results)

• A heaping spoon of public madness

• A dash of passivity

• All stirred well in social contagion

…and Voilà, there is your well-baked tyranny.

Moreover, being comfortable in uncertainty (A.K.A., being a healthy skeptic) will lead to more comfort in being wrong. And that’s good for everyone. No matter who you are.

Why?

Because healthy skepticism leads to an epistemically humble and dispassionate conversation about the facts. Which in turn leads to the surfacing and acceptance of good ideas. Which in turn leads to a society free of tyranny.

And so if you ask me, that is where wisdom is. It’s in a mode of being that not only proves to be beneficial to you, but to everyone around you.

So for your key takeaway, here’s a 3-point checklist for making sure you’re sticking according to wisdom:

• Stay skeptical

• Stay comfortable being wrong

• Avoid tyranny