Overview

Randall and Kenyon examine the concept of wisdom. What wisdom is exactly has vexed thinkers throughout the history of thought. Indeed, for much of modern times, the topic has been taboo, given the intellectual climate created by such movements as analytic philosophy, behaviorist psychology, and cognitive science. This study adds to a growing movement that is reclaiming wisdom as a meaningful concept by viewing human development in terms of metaphors that enrich models like mind-as-computer, which proposes mental activity is reducible to processing information. Randall and Kenyon's metaphors are life-as-story and life-as-journey and their conceptual extension, life-as-adventure: ordinary metaphors with extraordinary implications. Through the lenses of these intertwining, time-honored tropes, the authors see wisdom not as an unattainable ideal nor as the sole province of experts or educators, geniuses, therapists, or saints. Rather, it is potentially within the reach of everyone, not as a commodity but as a quality of life; as a matter of being, not of having. Insofar as everyone is on a journey and has—or is—a story, everyone has access to an ordinary wisdom, which it behooves people to explore and express. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with psychology, gerontology, theology, philosophy, and education.

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9780275965563

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Reviews

?[T]his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology.?-Ageing & Society YThis book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology. -Ageing & Society [T]his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology. -Ageing & Society

?[T]his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology.?-Ageing & Society

"?[T]his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology.?-Ageing & Society ""�T�his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology.""-Ageing & Society ""[T]his book offers many new insights into the significance of personal story in the contemporary world. It deals with the making and telling of story but also with the role of constructive listening. It links with diverse contemporary studies in related fields of the humanities, from literary theory to the theology, with which gerontologists would gain from greater acquaintance. It is an important contribution to the growing topic of personal meaning, which is still a neglected aspect of quality of life studies in British social gerontology.""-Ageing & Society"

Author Information

WILLIAM L. RANDALL is a former Protestant minister who has taught English at Seneca College, adult education for Brock University and the University of New Brunswick, and the philosophy of education for Saint Bonaventure University. He is currently Research Associate in Gerontology at St. Thomas University, where he is Project Director of the Fredericton 80+ Study. Dr. Randall is the author of two earlier books, The Stories We Are: An Essay on Self-Creation (1995) and, with Gary Kenyon, Restorying Our Lives (Praeger, 1997). GARY M. KENYON is founder and Director of Gerontology at St. Thomas University. He is also Adjunct Professor, Centre on Aging, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, Montreal, and Honorary Research Associate at the University of New Brunswick. Among his publications are Narrative Gerontology: Theory, Research and Practice with B. de Vries and P. Clark and Restorying Our Lives (Praeger, 1997).

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