Wisdom

Wisdom is using knowledge, experience, and insight to think and act with good judgment. Wisdom is defined differently by many cultures and gained through natural means (e.g., life experiences and reason) or supernatural means (e.g., divine revelation and religious teachings).

The caption reads "He over all the stars does reign, that unto wisdom can attain". In other words, "Whoever becomes wise will rule over everything."

Someone who has wisdom is called wise. Most cultures historically recognized wise individuals, often called sages, who were sought for guidance because they understood things ordinary people did not. In Western culture, the owl of Athena or Minerva is a symbol of wisdom.

Wisdom is broadly categorized into theoretical wisdom, practical wisdom, and moral wisdom.

Philosophical perspectives

Western philosophy

Ancient Greek philosophy

• Socrates: wisdom involves recognizing one’s own ignorance and questioning and refining one's beliefs rather than assuming certainty.^[1]
• Plato: wisdom is the love of knowledge gained through education, contemplation, and understanding justice and the forms.^[2]
• Aristotle: wisdom is understanding why things are a certain way (causality).

Medieval and Renaissance thought

• Augustine of Hippo: wisdom comes from knowing and loving God beyond worldly knowledge.^[3]
• Thomas Aquinas: wisdom guides reason toward ultimate truth and divine understanding found in God.^[4] Natural wisdom comes through reason and supernatural wisdom comes through divine revelation.^[5]
• Erasmus and Montaigne: emphasized self-reflection, skepticism, and challenging dogmatic reliance on authority.^[6]

Modern and contemporary philosophy

• Immanuel Kant: wisdom is applying practical reason to act according to universal moral principles.^[7]
• Friedrich Nietzsche: wisdom is self-created through personal growth, struggle, and self-overcoming.^[8]
• Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus: wisdom is accepting life's absurdity and choosing to live meaningfully despite its challenges.^[9]
• John Dewey: wisdom is acquired through ongoing inquiry, experimentation, adaption, and reflection.^[10]
• Martha Nussbaum: wisdom integrates emotional intelligence and empathy into moral reasoning.^[11]
• Michel Foucault: wisdom is shaped by power structures to serve dominant ideologies.^[12]
• Philip Kitcher: wisdom is a collective process involving diverse perspectives.^[13]

Eastern philosophy

• Confucian thought: wisdom is ethical living and social harmony.^[14]
• Buddhist philosophy: wisdom is seeing reality as it truly is and is developed through the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.^[15][16]

• Buddha:
  • Justice comes from discerning right and wrong, not using force.^[17]
  • Lead by nonviolence, righteousness, and equity.^[18]
  • Having knowledge alone doesn’t make you wise.^[19] Be calm, free from hatred and fear.^[19]
  • Having peace of mind alone doesn't make you wise.^[20] Actively discern good from evil and choose good.^[20]
• Hindu philosophy: wisdom is the self-realization that the self is one with the infinite consciousness of Brahman (ultimate divine essence) and distinguishing the real and unreal to break the cycle of rebirth.^[21][22]
• Gita: paths to wisdom include Jnana yoga (intellectual discernment and self-inquiry), Bhakti yoga (devotion to a personal deity), and Karma yoga (selfless action).^[23]
• Taoist philosophy: wisdom is effortless action and harmony with the natural flow of the universe (Tao) by embracing harmony with nature, balancing opposites (Ying and Yang), spontaneity, and accepting change.^[24][25][26]

Psychological perspectives

The field of psychology has identified the following traits of wisdom:

• Recognize the limits of your knowledge.^[27]
• Acknowledge uncertainty and change.^[27]
• Pay attention to context and the bigger picture.^[27]
• Integrate different perspectives of a situation.^[27]
• Handle the contradictions of a situation.
• Assess the consequences of an action for yourself and others.
• Balance intrapersonal (self), interpersonal (others), and institutional (society) interests.^[28]
• Practice emotional regulation.

Religious perspectives

• Zoroastrianism: wisdom is found in the deity Ahura Mazda who embodies goodness and truth.^[29]
• Hellenistic religion and Gnosticism: wisdom is a divine or mystical force that reveals hidden truths and guides the soul to transcend material existence towards the one source of reality.^[30][31]
• Abrahamic religions: truth is found in the deity God who embodies goodness and truth.^[source?] This understanding is revealed through his chosen prophets, holy texts, and personal divine revelation.
• Al-Kindi: we must not be ashamed to admire the truth or to acquire it, from wherever it comes.

Educational perspectives

• Nicholas Maxwell: wisdom is the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others.^[32] New knowledge without wisdom can cause both harm and good.