Thomas E. Finser
ENDURING EPISTEMOLOGY OF HUMILITY
"We all make mistakes". An Introduction to the Library of Mistakes by Alistair Darling
Former Chancellor of the Exchequer - June 2007 to May 2010. |
In the aftermath of 2008, Dr. Charles Munn, financial historian, and chairman of the Church of Scotland’s commission on economic activity, noted “[t]he financial crash was a long time coming” and “for many years we have been creating an economy and society based on greed and fear. We have embraced Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and forgotten his Theory of Moral Sentiments” (Perman 356). For a period of time, Scottish banks and significant factions of the financial services leadership had tragically abandoned epistemological humility.
Following the 2008 demise of the iconic Royal Bank of Scotland, members of the Edinburgh financial services community had a rude awakening. The culture of accountability, as embodied by Alexander Webster and Robert Wallace, had given way to greed and “catastrophic recklessness” (Perman 349). The rich moral-ethical legacy of Wallace and Webster, the reverence for spiritual accountability and humility, manifested demise when it became a caricatured marketing slogan, designed for the purpose of selling financial products.
Following the 2008 demise of the iconic Royal Bank of Scotland, members of the Edinburgh financial services community had a rude awakening. The culture of accountability, as embodied by Alexander Webster and Robert Wallace, had given way to greed and “catastrophic recklessness” (Perman 349). The rich moral-ethical legacy of Wallace and Webster, the reverence for spiritual accountability and humility, manifested demise when it became a caricatured marketing slogan, designed for the purpose of selling financial products.
M.P Huhn notes that Adam Smith was wary of "absolute truth", and his skepticism “translates into humility—his most epistemic value” (6). It is my contention that the epistemic value of humility is on full display with a one-of-a-kind financial library in Edinburgh. This institution is called the Library of Mistakes. It is located in Edinburgh’s historic New Town. In 2014, a group of Edinburgh financiers and scholars, led by "keeper" of The Library, Russell Napier, opened The Library to the public. The Library, designed to be a global repository of financial and business history and has recently expanded into Switzerland and India. In embrace of humility, the Library's motto is to improve the world "one mistake at a time".
"The Library of Mistakes is a free-to-use public library dedicated to the study of financial history, with an outreach and education programme that includes courses, events and podcasts. Amid today’s geopolitical and economic ructions, our drive is to extend the understanding of this topic so that both professionals and the investing public can avoid the mistakes of the past." (Library of Mistakes) |
Finding humility takes some effort. The Library is located at a quite dead-end alley of 33A Melville Street Lane in Edinburgh. There are two new locations: The Library of Mistakes in Lausanne, Switzerland and The Library of Mistakes in Pune, India.