Apr 04, 2013


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[edit]Philosophical perspectives of wisdom

Personification of wisdom (in Greek, "Σοφία" or "Sophia") at the Celsus Library inEphesus, Turkey.

A basic definition of wisdom is the use of knowledge.[1] The opposite of wisdom is folly.

The ancient Greeks considered wisdom to be an important virtue, personifie- d as the goddesses Metis and At- hena.

Athena is said to have sprung from the head of Zeus. She was portrayed as strong, fair, merciful, and chaste.[2] To Socrates and- Plato, philosophy was literally the love of Wisdom (philo-sophia). This permeates Plato's dialogues, especially The Republic, in which the leaders of his proposedutopia are to be philosopher kings: rulers who understand the Form of the Good and possess the courage to act accordingly. Aristotle, in his Metaphysics, defined wisdom as the understanding of causes, i.e. knowing why things are a certain way, which is deeper than merely knowing that things are a certain way.[3]



In the Inuit tradition, developing wisdom was the aim of teaching. An Inuit Elder said that a person became wise when they could see what needed to be done and do it successfully without being told what to do.


[edit]Educational- perspectives of wisdom


Public schools in the US have an approach to character education. In Benjamin Franklin's time, it was referred to as training wisdom and virtue. Traditionally, schools share the responsibility to build character and wisdom along with parents and the community.[8]


[edit]Psychological perspectives



  • A wise person has self-knowledge.
  • A wise person seems sincere and direct with others.
  • Others ask wise people for advice.

Measurement instruments that use these criteria have acceptable to good internal consistency and low to moderate test-retest reliabi- lity(r in the range of 0.35 to 0.67).[12]

[edit]Religious perspectives

Some religions have specific teachings relating to wisdom.

[edit]Ancient Egypt


[edit]Bahai Faith

Wisdom and the acquiring of it is mentioned frequently in the Bahai Scriptures. According to the scriptures "The essence of wisdom is the fear of God, the dread of His scourge and punishment, and the apprehension of His justice and decree."[17] Wisdom is seen as a light, that casts away darkness, and that "its dictates must be observed under all circumstances"[18] , other concepts associated with wisdom and being wise is considering "the regard of place and the utterance of discourse according to measure and state" and not believing or accepting what other people say so easily.[19]

One may obtain knowledge and wisdom though God, his Word, and his Divine Manifestation and the source of all learning is the knowledge of God.[20]

[edit]Hebrew Bible & Judaism


It has been posited that an ancient belief existed among the Jews and Samaritans that both the wisest and most aged among them would grow caprine horns, which were knowneuphemistically as "rays of light" (נקודת אור), hence the following ancient Hebrew dictums:[21]

From Wisdom's ("Power" or "an animal horn") Authority is born.
His Wisdom shone (qaran) unto them like ("power" or "an animal horn") (qeren) of light – (perhaps a more poetic translation would be 'his wisdom shone like a powerful beam of light').

However this is most likely a mistranslation of the Hebrew 'Keren' which means 'pride/defiance' (Psalm 75:4–5; Psalm 74:5–6 in Douay-Rheims) in the emotive context but 'animal horn' in the Vulgate translation.[22]-  Possibly one of the most famous results of this translation was Michelangelo's addition of horns to his statue of Moses. In a general sense the Hebrew for "horn" can be taken to represent the emotive and political concept of power. There is further reference to 'horns' later in the Psalm (Psalm 75:10, or Psalm 74:11 in Douay-Rheims which speaks of horns being 'cut' from the wicked or 'exalted' for the righteous.

The word wisdom (חכם) is mentioned 222 times in the Hebrew Bible. It was regarded as one of the highest virtues among the Israelites along with kindness (חסד) and justice (צדק). Both the books of Proverbs and Psalms urg- e readers to obtain and to increase in wisdom. Here are some of the roles that the Hebrew Bible ascribes to wisdom:

Elevating life (Proverbs 3:21-23).
Giver of patience and glory (Proverbs 19:11).


[edit]New Testament & Christianity


[edit]Qur'an & Islam


"He give- s wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good. And none will remember except those of understanding."
—Qur'an, sura 2 (Al-Baqara), ayat 269[24]


—Qur'an, sura 6 (Al-An'am), ayat 151[25]

[edi- t]Confucianism

According to Confucius, wisdom can be learned by three methods: reflection (the noblest), imitation (the easiest) and experience (the bitterest). Wisdom is not told by self but unless asked for by another. This means a wise man never tells his wisdom unless asked person to person.



Budd- hist scriptures teach that a wise person is endowed with good bodily conduct, good verbal conduct, and good mental conduct.(AN 3:2) A wise person does actions that are unpleasant to do but give good results, and doesn’t do actions that are pleasant to do but give bad results (AN 4:115). Wisdom is the antidote to the self-chosen poison ofignoran- ce. The Buddha has much to say on the subject of wisdom including:



In Taois- m, wisdom is construed as adherence to the Three Treasures (Taoism): charity, simplicity, and humility.

Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.



The Hinduism can be broadly classified further in Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and several other small self constructed and modified form of following.

The major knowledge source in Hinduism is the vast knowledge achieved by the sages over thousands of years and stored in form of 4 vedas, 8 siddhis, 9 Niddhis and Major religious books, to say Ramayana and Mahabharata. Wisdom in Hinduism is considered a state of mind and soul where a person achieves salvation.

The God of wisdom is Lord Ganesha and knowledge is goddess Saraswati. The Sanskrit verse to attain knowledge is

"Om Asato maa sad-gamaya;
tamaso maa jyotir-ga-maya;
mrtyor-maa amrutam gamaya.
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih".

"O Lord Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from the darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
May there be peace, peace, and perfect peace". a Sanskrit invocation from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads 1.3.28).

The Hindu religion talks about ayurvede, the wisdom of traditional Hindu medicine. Ayurvede means "knowledge of life". It teaches that the mind and body are one (an ancient wisdom). In ancient times, it was used to try to cure disease. However, today it is used to help people relax and feel healthy.[30] But this explanation is only a partial explanation for the word "Wisdom". Wisdom as per The Hindu religion is knowing oneself as the truth, basis for the entire Creation, i.e., "Shristi". In other words "wisdom" simply means a person with Self Awareness as the one who witnesses the Entire creation in all its facets and forms. Further it means realization that an individual, i.e., "Jeeva" Atma, through 'right conduct and living' over an unspecified period (it varies from individual to individual) comes to realize his/her true relationship with the creation and the 'God' who rules it.




Sapience is often defined as wisdom, or the ability of an organism or entity to act with appropriate judgment, a mental faculty which is a component ofintelligence or alternatively may be considered an additional faculty, apart from intelligence, with its own properties. Robert Sternberg[33]has segregated the capacity for judgment from the general qualifiers for intelligence, which is closer to cognizant aptitude than to wisdom. Displaying sound judgment in a complex, dynamic environment is a hallmark of wisdom.

The word sapience is derived from the Latin sapientia, meaning "wisdom".[34] Related to this word is the Latin verb sapere, meaning "to taste, to be wise, to know"; the present participle of sapere forms part of Homo sapiens, the Latin binomial nomenclature created byCarolus Linnaeus to describe the human species. Linnaeus had originally given humans the species name of diurnus, meaning man of the day. But he later decided that the dominating feature of humans was wisdom, hence application of the name sapiens. His chosen biological name was intended to emphasize man's uniqueness and separation from the rest of the animal kingdom.

In fantasy fiction and science fiction, sapience describes an essential human property that bestows "personhood" onto a non-human. It indicates that a computer, alien, mythical- creature or other object will be treated as a completely human character, with similar rights, capabilities and desires as any human character. The words "sentience", "self-awareness" and "consciousness" are used in similar ways in science fiction.

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