It is certainly a reasonable question—how the fool could perceive his own foolishness. Yet so often it comes down not to whether he is able, but whether he is willing to survey the damage
wrought by his beliefs and decisions—and to cut it out. To correct himself. To set things straight. To make amends. He does not see what is wrong with him because he does not want to see it; not because he is unable.
And if you watch him long enough, you’ll likely see him unwittingly reveal that he knows better when he correctly identifies foolishness in others from time to time. He may well have a deficit in education, but this is not his primary problem, and there’s a deeper problem in play. The problem with foolishness is that the fool does not want to do what he knows (and should know) to be proper.
It’s not a matter of a deficit in his faculties. The foundation of foolishness is primarily a matter of the human will, and not of ability. He resists the notion that there is an ought that obligates him to behave in any way he does not want to behave.
He may indeed need more education, but what he lacks, he often lacks for the same reason he lacks self-correction. That is, that he is not properly concerned with getting things right. This is his fundamental disposition, and can be improved only by a deliberate and voluntary reversal of his will.
BONUS TIPS OF THE DAY: 1) There are fools on the loose in every field of human endeavor. Every one. 2) A person can behave foolishly in one way, even if not in another. 3) It takes years of deliberate effort to get good at avoiding foolish behavior across the board.
