Albert Camus: The Difference Between Knowledge and Wisdom

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 as meta-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?