orchestrate, a plurality of incommensurable values, Metaheuristic (Pragmatic) to Orchestrate

How Moscow Orchestrated Events in Crimea6

Suppose you are torn between dedicating your life to art (say, by becoming a concert pianist) or to helping others (say, by going to medical school and joining Doctors Without Borders). How do you decide? There is no common currency in which artistic creation and moral goodness might be compared; these are but two of a plurality of incommensurable values that can be realized in a human life. Do you then ask yourself which choice will bring you greater future happiness? That’s no good either, for the path you choose will shape the very person you become, along with the preferences you develop; so to base your decision on the satisfaction of those preferences would ­be circular.
Hall never confronts this deep indeterminacy. Instead, he assures us that even if we can’t say what wisdom is, “we know it when we see it.” In fairness, the researchers he cites haven’t done any better — and their jargon is a lot worse, judging from research-paper titles like “Wisdom: A Metaheuristic (Pragmatic) to Orchestrate Mind and Virtue Toward Excellence.”

orchestrate

Syllabification: or·ches·trate

Pronunciation: /ˈôrkiˌstrāt

 

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verb

[with object]

• 1Arrange or score (music) for orchestral performance.

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• 2Arrange or direct the elements of (a situation) to produce a desired effect, especially surreptitiously: the developers were able to orchestrate a favorable media campaign

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Derivatives

orchestration

Pronunciation: /ˌôrkəˈstrāSHən/

noun

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orchestrator

Pronunciation: /-ˌstrātər/

noun

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Origin

late 19th century: from orchestra, perhaps suggested by French orchestrer.