I third Sigivald and Michael. People do conflate serenity and impartiality through plain confusion, though; I’ve seen multiple popular books on Buddhism that appear to advocate, not detachment, but making no value judgments whatsoever. (This seems like an example [here’s another] of a common pattern of giving literal bad advice that gets distorted into good. Maybe I should write about this on Less Wrong.) “It’s more a question of what kind of judgment you pass on arguments between those under your policing” is plausible, but this wasn’t the emphasis of either post. (It may genuinely be wise not to get involved in minor disputes between subordinates, if that’s not the whole of your job; no matter how clearly Merry is right and Pippin wrong, Gandalf taking sides could do more harm than good.)
Some say this style is harder to analyze and criticize, but Sigivald’s criticism wouldn’t have occurred to me (which it did independently) without “Gandalf, Ged, or Gandhi” named as exemplifying the stereotype of the Wise, even though it applies similarly well to yesterday’s post. I took your word that the common concept of ‘wisdom’ included complete impartiality, until you gave me counterexamples. I suppose the lesson is that extensive definitions both pin down a concept in the reader’s mind and make it easier to test for inconsistencies, equivocations, or simply uncommon usages that reduce applicability.
I third Sigivald and Michael. People do conflate serenity and impartiality through plain confusion, though; I’ve seen multiple popular books on Buddhism that appear to advocate, not detachment, but making no value judgments whatsoever. (This seems like an example [here’s another] of a common pattern of giving literal bad advice that gets distorted into good. Maybe I should write about this on Less Wrong.) “It’s more a question of what kind of judgment you pass on arguments between those under your policing” is plausible, but this wasn’t the emphasis of either post. (It may genuinely be wise not to get involved in minor disputes between subordinates, if that’s not the whole of your job; no matter how clearly Merry is right and Pippin wrong, Gandalf taking sides could do more harm than good.)
Some say this style is harder to analyze and criticize, but Sigivald’s criticism wouldn’t have occurred to me (which it did independently) without “Gandalf, Ged, or Gandhi” named as exemplifying the stereotype of the Wise, even though it applies similarly well to yesterday’s post. I took your word that the common concept of ‘wisdom’ included complete impartiality, until you gave me counterexamples. I suppose the lesson is that extensive definitions both pin down a concept in the reader’s mind and make it easier to test for inconsistencies, equivocations, or simply uncommon usages that reduce applicability.