[Philosophy Friday] What’s the Big Deal About Wisdom, Anyway?

Sometimes, it's good to think about the deeper questions in life. But if that sounds boring to some, a picture of a pretty girl never hurts, either.

Throughout the varied religious ideologies of the world, there are three common themes:

Humanity is imperfect and needs to improve itself in some way.
Treating others with love and respect is the morally proper thing to do.
Wisdom reigns supreme over all other knowledge.

But what is wisdom? Is wisdom relative to culture, or is it something universal? And how can one truly become wise?

Let’s address each of those questions point by point.

What is wisdom?

Examine the varied dictionary definitions of the word “wisdom,” and you’ll find little illumination. For example, Dictionary.com’s definition is:

1. the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.
2. scholarly knowledge or learning: the wisdom of the schools.
3. wise sayings or teachings; precepts.
4.a wise act or saying.

Since most of these definitions require a working knowledge of the word “wise,” further probing finds that the state of being wise means:

1.having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion.

So, simply stated, wisdom is the ability to make good decisions.

Wisdom can pertain to moral situations (what is “right” versus what is “wrong”), utility situations (what is “most beneficial” versus what is “least beneficial”), conflict situations (what is “best for all” versus “what is best for one”), and even day-to-day living (what is “efficient” versus what is “wasteful”).

A person is generally considered wise if he or she makes decisions carefully and decisively. A person is generally considered unwise if he or she makes decisions impulsively or inconclusively. A wise decision-maker is generally considered to have knowledge and insight, while an unwise decision-maker is generally considered to be foolish and short-sighted.

Age and experience are also generally associated with wisdom, but I would tend to argue that age and experience have nothing to do with being wise unless they are associated with learning from one’s mistakes. Some also associate nature with wisdom, speaking of things such as “the wisdom of trees.” This is lovely poetic language, but I would suggest that nature is objectively a rather harsh place where the prevailing wisdom is, “fight hard if you want to survive.” Trees dominate other plants by hogging up the resources in the soil and then growing tall enough that they can prevent smaller plants from receiving sunlight. The only thing wise about trees is their tendency to be bigger and greedier than their competitors.

Is wisdom relative to culture, or is it universal?

Socrates is considered one of the pillars of Western thinking.

Presently, we have two great traditions of thought in the world. The first is what we call “Western thought,” which is heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and the Judeo-Christian tradition. The central theme of Western thinking is that reason is the highest form of argument and that logic is the best means by which to construct an argument. Western thinkers often tend to be empirical, which means that they look for evidence to explain conclusions. One could describe Western thought by calling it “Yes/No” thinking.

“Eastern thought” comes primarily from Asia, and it is heavily influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient Babylon and Persia and even, to some extent, Islam. Eastern thought can be subdivided into many categories that are distinctly different from one another, such as Persian thought, Indian thought and Chinese thought. But most of the Eastern tradition is characterized by a lack of need for empiricism, and some Eastern thinkers often hold that two conflicting viewpoints can be simultaneously true since both are opposite sides of the same concept. One could describe Eastern thought by calling it “Yes/And” thinking.

Wisdom was a very big part of ancient culture, and writings dedicated to wisdom exist in the Egyptian tradition, the Sumerian tradition, the Hebrew tradition, the Chinese tradition, the Indian tradition and the Babylonian tradition, as well as the traditions of many other ancient cultures. As wisdom pertains to the world today, Karl Jaspers wrote in his 1996 book The Great Philosophers vol. 1 that the four paradigms of thought today stem from four individuals:

Confucius
Socrates
Jesus
Buddha

Confucius is sometimes referred to as the "Chinese Socrates."

When you strip away the culture and religion of the four men, it is clear that there are strong parallels between the teachings of Socrates and Confucius and between those of Jesus and Buddha. I’m not going to attempt to list them here, but there’s an interesting (and free!) eBook on the former you might want to check out. You can also get Jaspers’s book through Amazon.com.

What this leads me to suggest is that wisdom is not a concept that belongs solely to one tradition or the other, but rather, is a concept that is common in all cultures. The only difference is in how wisdom is prescribed and portrayed.

For example, in the Western tradition, we have the wise King Solomon, said to be the wisest man whom ever lived. At one point, the Old Testament says that Solomon was presented with a case where two women had given birth at the same time and one of their babies had died shortly after. The women were arguing over who was the actual mother to the living child. Both made such a strong case that King Solomon, in his wisdom, ordered that the baby be cut in half and that each woman receive half of the child. One of the alleged mothers thought this was fair, but the other cried out that this was not acceptable; she would rather the child lived with one of them than died to appease them. Solomon reasoned that the woman who cried out was the true mother, and awarded her the child.

This is very in line with the Western perspective of wisdom — that through deduction, we can find truth.Now, compare this to an Eastern story, from ancient China. (My apologies, but I have been unable to locate the source of this story.)

In an ancient city, a prince had a custom each year of releasing doves on New Year’s Day, and this inspired the villagers to catch doves for him, since he gave them rewards for each dove they turned in. Someone asked him why he released the doves, and he responded that it was to show his kindness. “But wait,” the friend pointed out. “In showing your kindness, you cause your subjects to rush out and collect these birds at great risk to themselves, and often wounding or killing birds in the process. The small kindness that you show comes at the expense of great harm to all involved.” The prince agreed with him.

This is very in line with the Eastern perspective of wisdom — that often, the actions that we take have repercussions on the world around us, and that it is not the solution that is important, but the understanding of our place in the world. The prince is both kind and cruel at the same time, and only by minimizing one extreme can he eliminate the other.

Neither of these perspectives are incompatible, however. Both are centered around the same theme: cruelty can masquerade as kindness, and the truly wise ruler is the one who understands the implications of the decision, as well as the subtext.

How can one truly become wise?

In Plato’s Apology, Socrates argues that it is impossible for him to consider himself wise, since he knows how little he truly knows, and that he is only considered wise because other people say that he is wise. And that’s exactly how wisdom works — it is a never-ending pursuit of understanding and knowledge that requires a person to constantly improve his or her understanding of the world. The more you learn, the less you think you really know. But when others look at you, they will think that you are wise simply because you possess more wisdom than they do.

Wisdom can be acquired through three different means:

Experience
Knowledge
Reason

Much of the Eastern world considers Buddha a teacher of both wisdom and morality.

Experience is the simplest way to obtain wisdom, since it is relatively passive. A 16-year-old driver might lack the wisdom to realize that driving well above the speed limit is dangerous, but a 26-year-old driver will know that doing so is not only a risk to the driver, but to passengers and other motorists as well. Experiential wisdom is only acquired, however, if an individual is actively open to change. If an individual becomes fixed in his or her ways and refuses to improve, he or she will not be able to get any wiser.

Knowledge is also a fairly common method of acquiring wisdom, and it can come either from passively listening to others or actively seeking their opinions. When I went to buy my wife’s wedding ring, a friend mentioned to me that his mother solid diamond rings at a great discount and that I should check with her before I bought anything. This passive knowledge resulted in my actively learning that jewelry is often marked up well above its worth, and that the best way to buy jewelry is from individuals or from special outlets, not from mall-store jewelers. I can now make wiser decisions about how I buy jewelry as a result of the process.

Often, it is the knowledge we posses that we draw upon for decision-making, but there are times when we must search for information to make a decision. Generally speaking, the more knowledge we have about a topic, the better a decision we can make. This assumes, of course, that our sources of knowledge are reliable and that we accept information that is true and reject that which is false.

Jesus often spoke in riddles and parables that forced his listeners to think carefully about what he was saying.

Reason is the highest form of wisdom, since it draws on our collective knowledge and experience to help us to make the best decision. This is often the wisdom that is contained in proverbs and in teaching stories. Take, for example, this proverb from the Bible:

Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, with strife.

In this dilemma, we must appeal to our knowledge and experience to judge whether or not this proverb is true. We can recall bad experiences we’ve had with family or in-laws over holidays and realize that this is probably true. What’s more, we can reason a further application that if we can reduce the strife in a household, our feasting will be all the more glorious.

Consider this quote from The Confucian Analects Book 14:

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

Again, this is an argument that requires reason to assess. Does arrogance imply that words generally lack the quality of being good? Certainly, it can make words into selfish boasts. The application, too, is to consider whether words are more easily made good with humility.

Wisdom is not something that is easy to attain, and it requires a lifetime of study. But it is a worthwhile pursuit, both because it assists with the quality of your own decision-making and because it helps you to assist others in their own. Though I do not consider myself wise, I strive to work towards making myself moreso.

Writing Scraps

by Sean J. Jordan