Module 15 · Wisdom
Social wisdom
Free — no account needed to read
What philosophy, psychology, history and literature teach about people.
By the end of this module
You will draw on long traditions of thinking about people — and hold every framework as an idea to examine, not a rule to obey.
Old traditions
- Aristotle on friendship — Friendships of use, of pleasure, and of character — and why the third kind lasts. (7 min · Practising)
- Confucian thought on relationships — Relationships as responsibilities, and character shown in how you treat people. (7 min · Deeper)
- Stoic self-control and response — You rarely control what people do; you can work on how you respond. (7 min · Practising)
How people are studied
- What psychology and sociology can tell you — Individual minds and social forces — two lenses on why people act as they do. (7 min · Practising)
- What anthropology and history show — How much of “human nature” is really culture, and what stays the same across centuries. (7 min · Deeper)
- Learning people from literature — Novels and stories let you live inside other minds — practice for empathy. (6 min · Beginner)
- Frameworks are maps, not territory — How to read a people-book: take the useful idea, test it, and drop what does not fit. (7 min · Deeper)
- The ethics of influence — Every people skill can help or harm. A short test for which one you are doing. (7 min · Deeper)