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Food & Thought: "Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing or Can Empathy Be Taught?"

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (ET)

Philadelphia, PA

Food & Thought:

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Food & Thought: Schwartz Ended $12.50 $1.68
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Event Details

Registration must be completed by the Monday prior to the lecture.

When our social institutions—hospitals, schools, courtrooms, or banks—are not giving us what we need, we reach for two tools to make them work better—more and stricter rules, and smarter incentives.  In this talk Dr. Schwartz will argue that neither rules, no matter how strict, nor incentives, no matter how smart, can get us what we need.  They are no substitute for virtue, and for the particular virtue that Aristotle called “practical wisdom.”  Indeed rules and incentives typically make the problem worse.  Rules prevent people from developing the skill they need to do the right thing, and incentives undermine people's will to do the right thing.  The argument will draw on examples from a variety of different social institutions, including medicine.

Speaker: Barry Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Swarthmore College

When & Where



The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
19 South 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM (ET)


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The College of Physicians of Philadelphia



The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is the oldest medical society & the oldest steward of American Medicine, and is regarded as the “Birthplace of American Medicine”SM, offering insight into medicine’s past, present and future.

Our specimens, book collections, archives, personal journals and ephemera are more relevant today than ever – attracting more visitors and users of our collections and facilities than ever before in our history.

Dedicated to advancing the cause of health while upholding the ideals and heritage of medicine, the College remains an unbiased community resource without allegiance to one healthsystem, a particular educational institution or industry.

The College’s historical contributions to medicine are bolstered by our contemporary public health and education programs including PhillyHealthInfo.org, our comprehensive website. This website provides consumers with authoritative, current, and easy to understand health information, as well as phone numbers and locations of support services, programs and health events in their community.