Top Research Papers on Wisdom

The world is simultaneously facing many crises that humanity is failing to solve. Yet, at the same time, humans are smarter (with IQs on average thirty points higher than a century ago) and more knowledgeable (with the world's knowledge base at our fingertips), and scientific advances are accelerating. However, intelligence and knowledge are not enough: wisdom harnesses these strengths to serve the common good. Education is focused on acquiring knowledge, but schools would do better also to teach and test for the development of wisdom. To a lot of people, wisdom is an abstraction, but there is...

The Classical Review vol. 62 no. 2 © The Classical Association 2012; all rights reserved y Díaz1 concerning the edition made in the reign of King Recceswinth (649–672) based on the Braulian version of the text (p. xlix and n. 100 for the reference to Díaz). S. states that her text reproduces the long version of the Etymologies (p. li). Of the four families of manuscripts described only one is called ‘famille longue extra-hispanique’ (Sankt Gallen 237, c.ix, and Leiden, Voss. lat. F.74, c.ix), and the reader assumes that this is the sole basis of the edition. S. has perhaps not explained hersel...

This chapter is the concluding account of the humanistic conception of wisdom that has emerged from the preceding chapters. Human wisdom is to form and maintain throughout the adversities and contingencies of life a sense of proportion, and reasonable, realistic, but at the same reduced expectations. It enables us to compensate for the loss of some of what we value by the enjoyment of others and to recognize that the contingencies of life may also benefit and not just harm us. If we possess sufficient depth, we do not confuse basic assumptions with our personal evaluative commitments, persever...

The macromarketing system is largely the function of many micromarketing decisions made each day. But this connection has not been probed thoroughly in the macromarketing literature, and there is a need for conceptual frameworks that can successfully link the challenges of effective micromarketing with the laudable goals of the macromarketing field, which focuses on the interdependencies between marketing and society. To this end, we explore wisdom, the zenith of human virtues, through pertinent literature and in-depth interviews with executives nominated for their wise decision making. We dis...

What is it that makes someone wise, or one person wiser than another? I argue that wisdom consists in knowledge of how to live well, and that this knowledge of how to live well is constituted by various further kinds of knowledge. One concern for this view is that knowledge is not needed for wisdom but rather some state short of knowledge, such as having rational or justified beliefs about various topics. Another concern is that the emphasis on knowing how to live well fails to do justice to the ancient tradition of ‘theoretical wisdom’. I address both of these concerns in filling out the acco...

What is wisdom? What does a wise person know? Can a wise person know how to act and live well without knowing the whys and wherefores of his own action? How is wisdom acquired? This Element addresses questions regarding the nature and acquisition of wisdom by developing and defending a skill theory of wisdom. Specifically, this theory argues that if a person S is wise, then (i) S knows that overall attitude success contributes to or constitutes well-being; (ii) S knows what the best means to achieve well-being are; (iii) S is reliably successful at acting and living well (in light of what S kn...

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The request to write an essay on ‘wisdom’ that could be passed on from an old and retired paediatrician, such as myself, to a young and aspiring trainee in paediatrics just starting out, led me to ask myself what wisdom really is.

This article defends an a-priori definition of wisdom, and presents and defends its ability to predict key findings of recent empirical studies, and describes some implications for future empirical studies of wisdom.

English translation © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Chinese original: Feng Qi, “Zhihui,” Zhexue pinglun (Philosophical Discussions) 10, no. 5 (1947). The author’s name was given as “Feng Baolin” in the original publication. The end of section IV and all of section V of the original essay have been omitted here. Translated by Jeffrey Keller. Contemporary Chinese Thought, vol. 42, no. 3, Spring 2011, pp. 8–51. © 2011 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1097–1467/2011 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/CSP1097-1467420301

When I first began to study philosophy I was introduced to the discipline in that magically traditional way by being assured that what lay before me was the love of wisdom. Why this had any adolescent appeal still puzzles me, but, like many others, I joined in as spectator to and occasionally as a removed participant in all the rough and tumble of a Socratic sparring match in the Athenian marketplace. There was some talk of wisdom, to be sure, which seemed to link it with a humble admission of ignorance or a pitch against yielding to temptation, but neither was ever deeply revealing. I waited ...

Sternberg advocates that children be taught wisdom, which he defines as a value system that balances concern for oneself with concern for others and extrapersonal concerns such as concern for the environment. Although I object to the way he has operationalized similar constructs like critical thinking, I agree with the main idea that children can be taught to think from multiple perspectives. For me, wisdom is more meaningfully thought of as critical thinking within a system of values. I do not know if we can teach children to be wise, but with effort, they certainly can learn to be wiser.

To be wise I think it is important for educators to at least have some conceptualization of the roles both gnosis and episteme have played in human history and further consider a wisdom context broad enough to contain both. Current definitions of wisdom range from advanced practical “know how” (Sternberg, 1990) to “cosmic enlightenment” (Alexander & Langer, 1990). I suggest that to have a deep understanding of “wisdom” (or for that matter, any field of study) it is “wise” to define the “space” bracketed by its contrastingly extreme positions. This dialectic process could establish a context wi...

Some of the features involved in making wise decisions in couples and family therapy are explored and it is clarified that different family theories embody different values: clear boundaries, good attachments, the ability to communicate, and so on.

Although leadership is one both broadly defined and widely researched, it has yet to be thoroughly explored through exegetical methodologies. Moreover, there is much room in the literature for in-depth exegetical studies that also provide the reader with practical application. Since applied theory is the goal of most scientific inquiry, it seems important to examine a critical theme of leadership theory that accomplishes the goal: wisdom.  This research uses an inner texture analysis of Proverbs 5 to extrapolate practical leadership principles. This brief exploration reveals several connection...

Tony Kelly explicitly takes wisdom as the topic of this chapter and identifies three kinds, namely, wisdom as one of the gifts of the Spirit, philosophical wisdom and theological wisdom, and he deals with each of these. Kelly begins with Pope John Paul’s Fides et Ratio and its reference to Aquinas’ theology of the role of the Spirit in wisdom. Kelly refers to the concept of “connaturality” as a way of understanding how a sense for the divine mysteries comes about.

The Psychology of Wisdom: An Introduction is the first comprehensive coursebook on wisdom, providing an engaging, balanced, and expert introduction to the psychology of wisdom. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the psychological science of wisdom, covering wide-ranging perspectives. Each chapter includes extensive pedagogy, including a summary, a glossary, bolded terms, practical applications, discussion questions, and a brief description of the authors' research. Topics include the philosophical foundations, folk conceptions, and psychological theories of wisdom; relations...

T H E present study is not an examination of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, nor of the professional class of wise men active among the Hebrews in Old Testament times; rather, the subject for discussion here is the concept of wisdom (which appears chiefly in the Wisdom Literature but also in other Old Testament books), and the significance of this concept to the messianic belief set forth in the JudeoChristian Scriptures. A clear understanding of the religious meanings of the wisdom concept is, therefore, fundamental to our investigation. According to Girdlestone's standa...

The authors concluded that GS 6 tumors do not appear to metastasize to the lymph nodes and that Gleason pattern 4 or 5 is responsible for metastatic spread.

The authors recognize that this is an approximation, but it is a useful one, and it allows them, through relatively elementary mathematics, to arrive quickly at circuit designs that they can prove are close to optimal speed.