What is wisdom?
Introduction: Wisdom is generally thought of as a certain set of knowledge which has both a practical and a theoretical aspect. This knowledge inevitably results in the person who has it living a good life. This is because a wise person is both someone who knows the correct things, knows how to rationally implement them and succeeds at doing so and thereby living a good life.
Thesis: I argue that wisdom is a mixture of practical knowledge and abstract knowledge where a person is capable of and succeeds at applying these ideas in a rational way that results in a good life.
Argument: In order to be truly wise it seems clear that a person must know the universe and their place in it. As such extensive knowledge is necessary. However, they must also have extensive knowledge of their own life and therefore must be expert in the proper way of applying this knowledge and therefore know how best to live well. Such a person 's knowledge will also make it clear to them the inherent value of living well, and would therefore have to desire it as well as know how to attain it (Hursthouse 12). Someone who is not living well and therefore virtuously surely cannot then be wise.
As long as we do not assume that wisdom must be attainable by all people, there is not a problem. However, it should further be noted that the condition is that a wise person must have extensive theoretical knowledge. This says nothing about false beliefs. An ancient person, if truly wise, will have investigated the world to the extent that it must surely be true that they have a large amount of true beliefs. The fact that they also have along side those true beliefs some false ones due to the primitive time they live does not negate the extensive theoretical knowledge they still
The following book of Peter Kreeft’s work, The Journey, will include a summary along with mine and the authors’ critique. As you read the book it is a very pleasant, symbolic story of always-existing wisdom as you go along the pathway of what knowledge really is. It talks about Socrates, someone who thinks a lot about how people think, from Athens, is a huge part in this book. This book is like a roadmap for modern travelers walking the very old pathway in search of reality. It will not only show us the pathway they took, but the pathway that we should take as well.
I have heard it said that a smart person learns from his own mistakes but a wise person learns from the mistakes of others. In the two books, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and SHE, we have two characters that emerge as wise men. In Jekyll, it is the character of Utterson, the stoic but curious lawyer, and in SHE it is the character of Holly, the stoic but curious academic. It is interesting to note that neither character chooses this fate of wise man, but rather has it thrust upon him through fate and curious circumstances. It is because of their high moral character that they are selected to bear witness to extraordinary events. The question is, how far are we willing to go to push the bounds of knowledge; when do we stop being smart and start being wise?
Throughout human existence, scholars have earnestly pursued knowledge and the attainment of truth. Historical figures such as Plato, Descartes, and Emerson sought answers to daunting questions of: ‘What is truth?’; ‘What is reality?’; ‘How is wisdom acquired?’ Many scholars believe these philosophers presented conflicting viewpoints: Plato encouraging skepticism among all previous historical, cultural, and personal perspectives; Descartes questioning definitions of reality and his very existence; Emerson encouraging self-trust and confidence in one’s ideals, opinions, and convictions. Surprisingly, reconciliation can be reached from these three differing hypotheses. Emerson’s thesis merely expounds from Descartes and Plato’s philosophies. He builds from Descartes’ search for self-identity and reconciles Plato’s skepticism with his views of self-trust and unconformity among scholars.
Practical wisdom is knowledge of how to secure the ends of human life and for a man who demonstrates this quality his mark should be to be able to tell what is good for himself and his ultimate goal of a good life. In this paper, I will be agreeing with Aristotle’s idea that virtue is a state of character concerned with ones choices and one’s ability to reason.
In arguably every construction of culture, religion, or society is the archetypical sage figure characterized by profound wisdom and enlightenment. The sage, the senex, or the wise old man, is depicted in folklore and literature often as a stock character, though is central to many ways of thought and religion. Saptarishi, the Seven Sages of Greece, Liu Ling, Wang Rong, and Zarathustra comprise only a portion of sage archetypes through history, representative of many cultures and traditions. Though the sage is generally similar throughout cultures, in each exists key distinguishing aspects. Classical philosophy derives sage wisdom from the ancient Greek term σοφός, or ho sophos; somebody who has attained the wisdom which the philosopher
Plato believes that education is wisdom and through literary mechanisms such as the Allegory of the Cave he shows the importance of education in achieving enlightenment. Believing that only the philosopher-kings should be educated, for reasons unstated, Plato argued that education enables the philosopher-kings to guide the masses and make good decisions on behalf of the Republic. Defining wisdom is a difficult and often contentious undertaking. Throughout history, important thinkers like Plato provide a different understanding of the purpose of life and of the meaning of wisdom itself. Plato saw wisdom as an external force that could only begin to be seen by human
Albert Einstein once said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.” Knowledge can be good because it makes one successful. Then, it can also be very bad such as a criminal being too smart for the police, he or she can keep committing crime. Too much knowledge is dangerous because it may harm many, which means that many die or get scarred for life because of one simple guy with an excess of knowledge.
The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
...s intuition and understanding of his surroundings could handle a CEO position with the added training of a college education. A commonplace is that the person last in his class in medical school is generally called a doctor. It is the experiences one goes through in college that prepares the students for the real world. Common sense and perseverance are more important than book sense. According on one philosopher, “it is a thousand times better to have common sense without an education than to have education without common sense.”
"Knowledge, Truth, and Meaning." Cover: Human Knowledge: Foundations and Limits. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .
The forms of intelligence advanced by Gardner indicate a person’s ability and capability and the form in which they prefer to learn and develop strengths. Developing a person’s strengths ensures that they positively respond to the learning experience and their growth and development is also influenced. The theory suggests that people have a set of intelligences and that it is not the single drive for a person’s style and capability. The notion that a person’s intelligence can be measured and scaled is said to be ridiculous, (Chapman, 2016) and that a person possesses a mix of abilities, but is only good at a few and that people coexist and work well together when they are collectively good at different things, (Silver, Strong & Perini,
What does it mean to be wise? Webster's Dictionary defines the word "wise" as being "marked by deep understanding, keen discerment". Through the telling of the ancient Mariner's tale, the Wedding-Guest became sadder and wiser. He became sad in that he identified himself with the shallow and self-absorbed mariner. However, the mariner changed his ways. The Wedding-Guest became wise through realizing that he himself needed to alter his ways.
In response to Gerald Graff’s article about “Hidden Intellectualism,” he discusses street smarts and that often people are educated through what they learn in their environment. In many ways people are intelligent but this knowledge rarely goes unacknowledged in formal schooling. In this way, people are intellectual but are more able to apply what they know to what they have picked up about life or topics through various scenarios in their lives rather than through
The word Philosophy comes from the Greek words of ‘philo’ meaning love and ‘sophos’ meaning wisdom (Philosophy). It is the pursuit for wisdom, to comprehend human behavior, nature and ultimately the meaning of life. Plato was the student of Socrates, influenced by his work, Plato aged to become a great philosopher himself; establishing his philosophy from that of his teacher. Aristotle was the student of Plato, and like his teacher, grew up to ground his philosophy from that of Plato. Although, both Plato and Aristotle criticized their teacher’s works, they were also influenced by them. Both Plato and Aristotle developed their own modes of knowledge acquisition; Plato’s Platonic Idealism and Aristotle’s Analytic Empiricism. In this paper, my objective is to identify the differences in the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, which lead to the development of two contradictory modes of knowledge acquisition and their influence on succeeding thinkers.
To provide solutions to philosophical problems such as, how world process was created, man must be in possession of rational, intuition, and intuitive knowledge. Rational knowledge is human reasoning and requires verification. The ability of man to reason while giving logical step by step demonstration and arguments is referred to as human knowledge and it has a rational source. According to Carriero and Broughton (2011), genuine rational knowledge is provided by clear and separate knowledge of wholesome intellect with sense deliverances interaction. Sen (1996) considers rational knowledge as the knowledge of change in states of specific entities, in the sense that human experience is a confirmation of change. What are its classes, provisions and philosophical problem associated with rational knowledge? The paper seeks to examine rational knowledge by addressing the above three issues.