What Is Wisdom - Essay Example

Scholars have defined the term ‘wisdom’ differently. Sometimes it is regarded as the more developed and sophisticated form of common sense. It is believed that wisdom can be developed by experience. Some others consider it as the ability to predict consequences and act for the common good. A standard accepted definition of Wisdom is the ability to make the right choices without having complete information. Robert M May says “the Wise Men and Wise Women of history knew that we must turn to faculties beyond those of sense and reason in dealing with questions of wholes and values. Feeling and intuition are as important faculties of the psyche as are sensation and intellect, if not more so.” (May 2004). Dr. Robert Sternberg, a professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University, defines wisdom as “the application of intelligence and experience as mediated by values toward the achievement of a common good through a balance among intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extra personal interests, over the short and long terms, to achieve a balance among adaptation to existing environments, shaping of existing environments, and selection of new environments.” (Sternberg). This definition of wisdom contains three important points placement of values within wisdom, the importance of action, and wisdom’s drive toward balance. Thus, wisdom becomes the ability to discern the truth.

“He, O men, is the wisest who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.” In the context of the above quotation, some may argue that in a practical sense wisdom, or what it makes a person be, fetches nothing. Socrates, for his being wise achieved nothing. He was condemned and deprived of his freedom. He was tried by a jury which is appointed by a majority of the citizens. Were all those citizens wise? Not many will agree. It further transpires that men who were not considered as wise wield the power to decide the fates of men who are considered by the same society as wise. But then, when the wise speak the truth, which is not favored by the majority; they condemn the same wise man whose wisdom they have once admired and honored. So, is speaking the unsavory truth wise on one’s part? Again, many will say no. But it is the wise man’s perceptions gleaned from knowledge and experience that show the world its path to learning. And what makes Socrates’ wisdom unique is that he stood by his understanding and didn’t fear death or punishment. Thus he has given the world a lesson that one’s wisdom isn’t measured by the number of comforts he lives in or by the wealth he accumulates but by his understanding of the truth and living by it for the common good and not his own well-being.

This philosophy of wisdom can be seen as validated by the modern concept of wisdom which seems to be focused on providing a common platform for human values such as peace, dignity, justice, freedom, and worth of humans; equality for all men and women as discussed in Stenberg’s definition cited earlier and included in the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Such values have been passed on to modern man through the teachings of philosophers like Socrates, whose validity had withstood the tests of time because of the wisdom in them.