Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Generalizations are the Offspring of Wisdom

People foolishly oppose generalization. One often hears, 'Never generalize!' But of course that itself is a generalization in the imperative mood. The partisan of brute particularity who so opines is hoist by his own petard.

So it was with pleasure that I heard Dennis Prager one day  remark   that "Generalizations are the mother of wisdom." But being a quibbler and a pedant, I cannot forebear to suggest an improvement:

   Generalizations are the offspring of wisdom

 or

   Generalization is wisdom's distillate.

 For wisdom does not spring from generalization; it is rather that generalizations spring from wisdom as its expression and codification.


Posted

in

by

Tags: