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Wisdom is defined as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. It is associated with attributes such as good judgment, compassion, self-knowledge, and virtues. Wisdom has been defined in many different ways and from various perspectives including mythology, philosophy, education, psychology, and religion. In ancient Greece, wisdom was personified by goddesses like Athena and was seen as an important virtue by philosophers like Socrates and Plato.

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25 views3 pages

Wisdom: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

Wisdom is defined as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. It is associated with attributes such as good judgment, compassion, self-knowledge, and virtues. Wisdom has been defined in many different ways and from various perspectives including mythology, philosophy, education, psychology, and religion. In ancient Greece, wisdom was personified by goddesses like Athena and was seen as an important virtue by philosophers like Socrates and Plato.

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Wisdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other uses, see Wisdom (disambiguation).

Wisdom Defending Youth Against Love by Meynier, c. 1810

Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to think and act


using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.[1] Wisdom is
associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-
knowledge, self-transcendence and non-attachment,[2] and virtues such as ethics and
benevolence.[3][4]
Wisdom has been defined in many different ways, [2][5][3] including several distinct
approaches to assess the characteristics attributed to wisdom. [6][7]

Contents

 1Definitions
 2Mythological and philosophical perspectives
 3Educational perspectives
 4Psychological perspectives
o 4.1Measuring wisdom
 5Sapience
 6Religious perspectives
o 6.1Ancient Near East
o 6.2Zoroastrianism
o 6.3Hebrew Bible and Judaism
o 6.4Hellenistic religion and Gnosticism
o 6.5Christian theology
o 6.6Indian religions
o 6.7Islam
o 6.8Chinese religion
o 6.9Others
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References
 10External links

Definitions[edit]

Early mention of wisdom in Beowulf

The Oxford English Dictionary defines wisdom as "Capacity of judging rightly in matters


relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgement in the choice of means and ends;
sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs: opp. to folly;" also
"Knowledge (esp. of a high or abstruse kind); enlightenment, learning,
erudition."[8] Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as "the right use of knowledge".
[9]
 Robert I. Sutton and Andrew Hargadon defined the "attitude of wisdom" as "acting with
knowledge while doubting what one knows". Psycanics defines wisdom as "the ability to
foresee the consequences of action" (allowing one to avoid negative consequences and
produce the desired positive ones.) In social and psychological sciences, several
distinct approaches to wisdom exist,[3] with major advances made in the last two
decades with respect to operationalization[2] and measurement[7] of wisdom as a
psychological construct. Wisdom is the capacity to have foreknowledge of something, to
know the consequences (both positive and negative) of all the available course of
actions, and to yield or take the options with the most advantage either for present or
future implication.

Mythological and philosophical perspectives[edit]


The ancient Greeks considered wisdom to be an important virtue, personified as
the goddesses Metis and Athena. Metis was the first wife of Zeus, who, according
to Hesiod's Theogony, had devoured her pregnant; Zeus earned the title of Mêtieta
("The Wise Counselor") after that, as Metis was the embodiment of wisdom, and he
gave birth to Athena, who is said to have sprung from his head. [10][11] Athena was
portrayed as strong, fair, merciful, and chaste. [12] Apollo was also considered a god of
wisdom, designated as the conductor of the Muses (Musagetes),[13] who were
personifications of the sciences and of the inspired and poetic arts; According to Plato in
his Cratylus, the name of Apollo could also mean "Ballon" (archer) and "Omopoulon"
(unifier of poles [divine and earthly]), since this god was responsible for divine and true
inspirations, thus considered an archer who was always right in healing and oracles: "he
is an ever-darting archer".[14] Apollo was considered the god who prophesied through the
priestesses (Pythia) in the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), where the aphorism "know thyself"
(gnōthi seauton)[a] was inscribed (part of the wisdom of the Delphic maxims).[15] He was
contrasted with Hermes, who was related to the sciences and technical wisdom, and, in
the first centuries after Christ, was associated with Thoth in an Egyptian syncretism,
under the name Hermes Trimegistus.[16] Greek tradition recorded the earliest introducers
of wisdom in the Seven Sages of Greece.[17]
To Socrates and Plato, philosophy was literally the love of wisdom (philo-sophia). This
permeates Plato's dialogues; in The Republic the leaders of his
proposed utopia are philosopher kings who understand the Form of the Good and
possess the courage to act accordingly. Aristotle, in Metaphysics, defined wisdom as
understanding why things are a certain way (causality), which is deeper than merely
knowing things are a certain way.[18] He was the first to make the distinction
between phronesis and sophia.[5]
According to Plato and Xenophon, the Pythia of the Delphic Oracle answered the
question "who is the wisest man in Greece?" by stating Socrates was the wisest. [19]
[20]
 According to Plato's Apology, Socrates decided to investigate the people who might
be considered wiser than him, concluding they lacked true knowledge:
[…] οὗτος μὲν οἴεταί τι εἰδέναι οὐκ εἰδώς, ἐγὼ δέ, ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ οἶδα, οὐδὲ οἴομαι [I am
wiser than this man; for neither of us really knows anything fine and good, but this man
thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas I, as I do not know anything, do
not think I do either.]
— Apology to Socrates 21d

Thus it became popularly immortalized in the phrase "I know that I know nothing" that it
is wise to recognize one's own ignorance[21] and to value epistemic humility.[22]
The ancient Romans also valued wisdom which was personified in Minerva, or Pallas.
She also represents skillful knowledge and the virtues, especially chastity. Her symbol
was the owl which is still a popular representation of wisdom, because it can see in
darkness. She was said to be born from Jupiter's forehead. [23]
Wisdom is also important within Christianity. Jesus emphasized it.[24][25] Paul the Apostle,
in his first epistle to the Corinthians, argued that there is both secular and divine
wisdom, urging Christians to pursue the latter. Prudence, which is intimately related to
wisdom, became one of the four cardinal virtues of Catholicism. The Christian
philosopher Thomas Aquinas considered wisdom to be the "father" (i.e. the cause,
measure, and form) of all virtues.

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