Educating for STEM Wisdom by Adapting Ummânu Wisdom for Modern Times

The science of wisdom draws on ancient archetypes of wisdom that provide important models for living a good life, but none of them seems adequate for STEM wisdom because they don’t have any obvious connection to science and technology. In this paper, we propose addressing gaps in contemporary STEM education by adapting another ancient archetype that the wise scholar-craftsman, exemplified by the ancient Mesopotamian ummânu (Akkadian for expert-scholar and master craftsman). Using historical analysis, we show the value of the ummânu model for developing STEM wisdom, a special case of scientific wisdom. This is because of the ummânu emphasis on truth-telling, self-transcendence, humility, foresight, and civic service that provided a framework for cultivating both technical proficiency and the ethical and critical-thinking skills necessary for socially responsible innovation today.