Wisdom (Buddhism)

Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act productively using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, self-transcendence, and non-attachment, and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.

Wisdom has been defined in many different ways, and there are several distinct approaches to assessing the characteristics attributed to wisdom.

Definitions

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines wisdom as "Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs: opp. to folly;" also "Knowledge (esp. of a high or abstruse kind); enlightenment, learning, erudition." Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as "the right use of knowledge". Robert I. Sutton and Andrew Hargadon defined the "attitude of wisdom" as "acting with knowledge while doubting what one knows".

In social and psychological sciences, several distinct approaches to wisdom exist, along with techniques of operationalization and measurement of wisdom as a psychological construct. Wisdom is the capacity to have foreknowledge of something, to know the consequences (positive and negative) of the available courses of action, and take the best of the available options.

Mythological perspectives

History

The ancient Greeks considered wisdom to be an important virtue, personified as the goddesses Metis and Athena. Metis was the first wife of Zeus, who, according to Hesiod's Theogony, had devoured her pregnant; Zeus earned the title of Mêtieta ("The Wise Counselor") after that, as Metis was the embodiment of wisdom, and he gave birth to Athena, who is said to have sprung from his head. Athena was portrayed as strong, fair, merciful, and chaste.

Apollo was also considered a god of wisdom, designated as the conductor of the Muses (''Musagetes''), who were personifications of the sciences and of the inspired and poetic arts. According to Plato in his ''Cratylus'', the name of Apollo could also mean "" (archer) and "" (unifier of poles ivine and earthly, since this god was responsible for divine and true inspirations, thus considered an archer who was always right in healing and oracles: "he is an ever-darting archer". Apollo prophesied through the priestesses (Pythia) in the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), where the aphorism "know thyself" () was inscribed (one of the Delphic maxims). He was contrasted with Hermes, who was related to the sciences and technical wisdom, and, in the first centuries after Christ, was associated with Thoth in an Egyptian syncretism, under the name Hermes Trimegistus. Greek tradition recorded the earliest introducers of wisdom in the Seven Sages of Greece.

To Socrates and Plato, philosophy was literally the love of wisdom (). This permeates Plato's dialogues; in '' The Republic'' the leaders of his proposed utopia are philosopher kings who understand the Form of the Good and possess the courage to act accordingly. Aristotle, in ''Metaphysics'', defined wisdom as understanding why things are a certain way (causality), which is deeper than merely knowing things are a certain way. He was the first to make the distinction between and .

According to Plato and Xenophon, the Pythia of the Delphic Oracle answered the question "who is the wisest man in Greece?" by stating Socrates was the wisest. According to Plato's ''Apology'', Socrates decided to investigate the people who might be considered wiser than him, concluding they lacked true knowledge:

This became immortalized in the phrase "I know that I know nothing" an aphorism suggesting that it is wise to recognize one's own ignorance and to value epistemic humility.

The ancient Romans also valued wisdom, which was personified as Minerva or Pallas. She also represents skillful knowledge and the virtues, especially chastity. Her symbol was the owl, which is still a popular representation of wisdom, because it can see in darkness. She was said to have been born from Jupiter's forehead.

Buddhist traditions provide comprehensive guidance on how to develop wisdom. In the Inuit tradition, developing wisdom was one of the aims 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.

In many cultures, the name for third molars, which are the last teeth to grow, is etymologically linked with wisdom, as in the English ''wisdom tooth''. This nickname originated from the classical tradition—the Hippocratic writings used the term (in Greek, related to the meaning of moderation or teaching a lesson), and in Latin (wisdom tooth).

Educational perspectives

Public schools in the U.S. sometimes nod at "character education" which would include training in wisdom.

Nicholas Maxwell, a philosopher in the United Kingdom, believes academia ought to alter its focus from the acquisition of knowledge to seeking and promoting wisdom. This he defines as the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others. He teaches that new knowledge and technological know-how increase our power to act. Without wisdom though, Maxwell claims this new knowledge may cause human harm as well as human good. He argues that the pursuit of knowledge is indeed valuable and good, but that it should be considered a part of the broader task of improving wisdom.

Psychological perspectives

Psychologists have begun to gather data on commonly held beliefs or folk theories about wisdom. Initial analyses indicate that although "there is an overlap of the implicit theory of wisdom with intelligence, perceptiveness, spirituality, and shrewdness, it is evident that wisdom is an expertise in dealing with difficult questions of life and adaptation to the complex requirements."

The field of psychology has also developed explicit theories and empirical research on the psychological processes underlying wisdom.
Opinions on the psychological definition of wisdom vary, but there is some consensus that critical to wisdom are certain meta-cognitive processes that afford life reflection and judgment about critical life matters. These processes include recognizing the limits of one's own knowledge, acknowledging uncertainty and change, attention to context and the bigger picture, and integrating different perspectives of a situation. Cognitive scientists suggest that wisdom requires coordinating such reasoning processes for insight into managing one's life. Reasoning of this sort is both theoretically and empirically distinct from general (fluid or crystallized) intelligence. Researchers have shown empirically that wise reasoning is distinct from IQ.

Baltes and colleagues defined wisdom as "the ability to deal with the contradictions of a specific situation and to assess the consequences of an action for themselves and for others. It is achieved when in a concrete situation, a balance between intrapersonal, interpersonal and institutional interests can be prepared". Balance appears to be a critical criterion of wisdom. Empirical research provides some support for this idea, showing that wisdom-related reasoning is associated with achieving balance between intrapersonal and interpersonal interests when facing personal life challenges, and when setting goals for managing interpersonal conflicts.

Some researchers of positive psychology have defined wisdom as the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve well being." Under this definition, wisdom is further refined as having the following facets:

* Problem-solving with self-knowledge and actions.
*
*
* Tolerance towards uncertainty in life with .
* to understand one's own emotions including the ability to see oneself as part of a larger whole.

This theoretical model has not been tested empirically.

Grossmann and colleagues summarized prior psychological literature to conclude that wisdom involves certain cognitive processes that afford unbiased, sound judgment in the face of ill-defined life situations:
# intellectual humility, or recognition of limits of own knowledge
# appreciation of perspectives broader than the issue at hand
# sensitivity to the possibility of change in social relations
# compromise or integration of different perspectives
Grossmann found that habitually speaking and thinking of oneself in the third person increases these characteristics, which means that such a habit makes a person wiser. Grossmann says contextual factors—such as culture, experiences, and social situations—influence the understanding, development, and propensity of wisdom, with implications for training and educational practice. These contextual factors are the focus of continuing research. For instance, Grossmann and Kross identified a phenomenon they called "the Solomon's paradox": that people reflect more wisely on other people's problems than on their own. (It is named after King Solomon, who had legendary sagacity when making judgments about other people's dilemmas but lacked insight when it came to important decisions in his own life.)

Researchers also explore the role of emotions in wisdom. Most agree that emotions and emotion regulation are key to effectively managing the kinds of complex and arousing situations that most call for wisdom. Much empirical research has focused on the cognitive or meta-cognitive aspects of wisdom, assuming that an ability to reason through difficult situations is paramount. So although emotions likely play a role in how wisdom plays out in real events (and in reflecting on past events), empirical studies were late to develop on how emotions affect a person's ability to deal wisely with complex events. One study found a positive relationship between diversity of emotional experience and wise reasoning, irrespective of emotional intensity.

Measuring wisdom

A researcher will measure wisdom differently depending on their theoretical position about the nature of wisdom. For example, some view wisdom as a stable personality trait, others as a context-bound process. Those wedded to the former approach often use single-shot questionnaires, which are prone to responses, something that is antithetical to the wisdom construct and fails to study wisdom in the contexts where it is most relevant: complex life challenges. In contrast, researchers who prefer the latter approach measure wisdom-related features of cognition, motivation, and emotion in the context of a specific situation. Such state-level measures provide less-biased responses as well as greater power in explaining meaningful psychological processes. Also, a focus on the situation allows wisdom researchers to develop a fuller understanding of the role of context in producing wisdom. For example, studies have shown evidence of cross-cultural and within-cultural variability, and systematic variability in reasoning wisely across contexts and in daily life.

Many, but not all, studies find that adults' self-ratings of perspective and wisdom do not depend on age. This conflicts with the popular notion that wisdom increases with age. The answer to whether age and wisdom correlate depends on how one defines wisdom and one's experimental technique. The answer to this question also depends on the domain studied, and the role of experience in that domain, with some contexts favoring older adults, others favoring younger adults, and some not differentiating age groups. Rigorous longitudinal work is needed to answer this question, while most studies rely on cross-sectional observations.

The Jeste-Thomas Wisdom Index is based on a 28-question survey (SD-WISE-28) created by researchers at the University of California San Diego to determine how wise a person is. In 2021 Dr. Dilip V. Jeste and his colleagues created a 7-question survey (SD-WISE-7) testing seven components: acceptance of diverse perspectives, decisiveness, emotional regulation, prosocial behaviors, self-reflection, social advising, and (to a lesser degree) spirituality.

Sapience

Sapience ("" in Greek) is "transcendent wisdom", "ultimate reality", or the ultimate truth of things. This more cosmic, "big picture" definition is often how wisdom ("true wisdom" or "Wisdom" with a capital W) is considered in a religious context. It transcends mere practical wisdom and may include deep understanding of self, interconnectedness, conditioned origination, and phenomenological insight. A person with this type of wisdom can act with appropriate judgment, a broad understanding of situations, and greater appreciation/compassion towards other living beings.

The word ''sapience'' is derived from the Latin , meaning "wisdom". The corresponding verb has the original meaning of "to taste", hence "to perceive, to discern" and "to know"; its present participle was chosen by Carl Linnaeus for the Latin binomial for the human species, ''Homo sapiens''.

Religious perspectives

Ancient Near East

In Mesopotamian religion and mythology, Enki, also known as Ea, was the god of wisdom and intelligence. Divine wisdom allowed and the ordering of the cosmos, and it was achieved by humans by following s (in Sumerian: order, rite, righteousness) which maintain balance. In addition to hymns to Enki or Ea dating from , there is among the clay tablets of Abu Salabikh from (the oldest dated texts), a "Hymn to Shamash" which includes the following:

The concept of Logos—manifest word of the divine thought—was also present in the philosophy and hymns of Egypt and Ancient Greece. It was important in the thinking of Heraclitus, and in the Abrahamic traditions. It seems to have been derived from Mesopotamian culture.

Sia was the personification of perception and thoughtfulness in the mythology of Ancient Egypt. Thoth, married to Maat (in ancient Egyptian: order, righteousness, truth), was regarded as the being who introduced wisdom to the nation.

Zoroastrianism

In the Avesta Gathas

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