What is Wisdom?

Philosophy is the Love of Wisdom, but what is Wisdom?

Socrates was said to be the "Wisest of men". What does it mean to be wise?

A definition of Wisdom is ‘experience and knowledge together with the power of applying them practically’. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as compassion, experiential self-knowledge, non-attachment and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.

In a sense, anyone who has mastered their trade or area of specialism could be called wise in their sphere of knowledge – for example, if we call someone a wise doctor we may mean he or she has experience and knowledge of medicine and is able to apply these practically. This is known as 'Phronesis' and refers to practical knowledge. However, as philosophers, the idea here is not to be a wise doctor, or a wise anything else, but to be wise people. The activity of interest is life itself – therefore the knowledge to be sought is that which can enable us to master the art of living. This is known as 'Sophia' and refers to “transcendent wisdom” or the “ultimate nature of reality.”

So we can define ‘wisdom’ to mean "that knowledge which will enable a person to live truly and happily".
We can also define the "attitude of wisdom" as "acting with knowledge while doubting what one knows".
We can approach the question of discovering wisdom through considering the way a wise person acts, how they speak, how they are in themselves. We can ask, for any situation -“What would a wise person do?”

In education, should the focus change from the acquisition of knowledge to seeking and promoting wisdom, and the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others? The wise application of knowledge will then be to attain a positive goal by receiving instruction in governing oneself.

Handout, including quotes, available here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QO6ZmF5c0DvCYurOP_IRBz5185BirWbV/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108914814178375137957&rtpof=true&sd=true
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