In short, some arguments with some people cannot be won, even by the most skilled and devoted of advocates. Socrates lost in his attempt to persuade the Athenians to interest themselves in his ideas about education, although he went on arguing to his dying breath. So with his imitators and followers, of whom E.F. Schumacher was one. He said:
“There is no doubt . . . the need to transmit know-how, but this must take second place, for it is obviously somewhat foolhardy to put great powers into the hands of people without making sure that they have a reasonable idea of what to do with them. At present, there can be little doubt that the whole of mankind is in mortal danger, not because we are short of scientific and technological know-how, but because we tend to use it destructively, without wisdom. More education can help us only if it produces more wisdom.”
