Wisdom is a word that features in book titles in the ‘Self-help’ section of bookshops, but not so much in the ‘Philosophy’ section (where that still exists). Wisdom is different from evidence-based knowledge, because it comes from lived experience, not publicly checkable data. A wise person’s pronouncements aren’t delivered as the result of explicit chains of reasoning either. They take the form of poignant observations not logical conclusions. Wise observations are not the kind of s...