Sitting around the television late one night, I asked my seven suitemates, what do you think it means to have wisdom? They answered with the indefinite conclusion of “using your knowledge to make smart decisions,””the opposite of being dumb,” “Always being able to outsmart your opposition.” My suitemates definitions obviously lacked in strength and structure. However most people would likely give the same type of answers. Merriam- Webster’s dictionary defines the word wisdom as “the quality of being wise; power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience, understanding, etc.; good judgment; sagacity (penetrating intelligence and sound judgment).”
With many components to this definition, true understanding of how each component is present and applicable to our lives is a complicated matter. Millenials are left with the challenge to find an individual and personal answer to “what is wisdom?” in their life. In order to grasp a better understanding of this definition, the writings and thoughts of philosophers; Socrates, Plato, Bertrand Russell, and Rene Descartes give a further insight as to what wisdom really is. Analyzation of these pieces, helps gives us an explanation of how wisdom actually is applied in our life, that is surrounded and affected by many more forces opposed to the lives of these philosophers. The thoughts of these philosophers this give us a purer conclusion on what wisdom truly is.
Socrates, an ancient greek philosopher who lived in athens from 469-399 BC was famous for his “socratic method”. Regarded by many to be the wisest human on earth. Socrates, vocalized his thoughts and ideas to the people of Athens. Eventually he is killed for this. Without any written pieces left behind by socrates himself, we learn much of what he spoke through the writings of Plato, a student of his. The Apology Defense of Socrates, written by Plato, explains the conviction, trial, and death of Socrates. In the writing, Plato includes examples of Socrates theory and words on wisdom.
127 our experts are availableright now
The apology begins with a 70 year old socrates at being held to trial in Athens. The accusers? The Athenian people themselves. The people of Athens accused Socrates of corrupting the youth, asking strange questions, and boasting about his wisdom. He tells the jury he will “speak the truth and only the truth, because that’s all I have in my defense.” To defend himself concerning wisdom socrates tells the story of the Oracle Delphi. The Oracle, which cannot lie, says that Socrates is the wisest man on earth. In disbelief, Socrates set off to see if this indeed was true, or if he could prove the Oracle wrong.
Seeking to find individuals in Athens whom were regarded to be wise, Socrates visited politicians, who appeared to to be wise. However in fact they were not wise at all. Socrates observed that when questioned, the politicians did not have answers to many things nor know much at all. Then Socrates visited the poets in athens, whom all published many great works of literature in Athens. Socrates observed that the poets could not give explanation for meaning of some of their works.
Concluding that their inspiration was not associated with their physical intellect, their “genius” could not have come from wisdom, Socrates also found that the poets spoke on matters which some were uneducated in at all, but considered themselves and spoke like they were experts. Finally socrates observed the craftsmen. Socrates found the the craftsmen were indeed wise with their craft and very gifted, but the craftsmen were limited to only that. When the craftsmen tried to speak on matter outside of their realm of knowledge. Using dialect, Socrates finds answers to help him understand if what the Oracle said is to be true.
After his observations with these people Socrates concludes, “ because of their excellence at their own trade, each claimed to be a great expert also on matters of the utmost importance; and this arrogance e of theirs seemed to eclipse their wisdom. So I began to ask myself, on the oracle’s behalf, whether I should prefer to be as I am, neither wise as they are wise, nor ignorant as they are ignorant, or to possess both their attributes; and in reply, I told myself and the oracle that I was better off as I was.”
Plato explains to the reader what Socrates defines wisdom to truly be. These people were not to be considered wise according to Socrates because they failed to admit that somethings they just did not know. The wisest people do not admit they are wise, because they will end their search for knowledge. Ending this search like the politicians, poets and craftsmen, leads people to lie about things in order to portray their wisdom and knowledge, as opposed to admitting they simply “do not know.” Wisdom is shown in admitting your uneducated and seeking to learn to gain the knowledge.
Bertrand Russell, a British philosopher, wrote his thoughts on wisdom in his “the value of philosophy”. In the argument on what is “the value of philosophy”, Russell says “if the value of philosophy has any value at all for others than students of philosophy, it must be be indirectly, through its effects upon the lives of those who study it.” he continues and says “it is exclusively among the goods of the mind that the value of philosophy is to be found:and only those who are not indifferent to these goods can be persuaded that the study of philosophy is not a waste of time.
Russell explains that philosophy affects everyone, even those who do not study it. For those whom do not study philosophy, the indirect effect when interacting with others who do study philosophy is shared between the two, and the only ones who value the of the study of philosophy are those individuals open to expanding the goods of their mind. This according to Russell, is what the wisdom and how it affects the individual. Russell writes on how knowledge and wisdom correlate in our lives. In our present world, the technological advances and our ability to discover and gain knowledge has is more available than ever before.
Russell explains where the problem with this lies, “you study the composition of the atom from a disinterested desire for knowledge, and incidentally place in the hands of powerful lunatics the means of destroying the human race. In such ways the pursuit of knowledge may become harmful unless it is combined with wisdom; and wisdom in the sense of comprehensive vision is not necessarily present in specialists in the pursuit of knowledge.” Our natural instinct as humans to discover and learn can have subsequent effects on our “wisdom”, as some of our actions we take to achieve knowledge defeat the purpose of having wisdom and being wise.
The last philosopher to discuss is Rene Descartes. Descartes was a French Philosopher who lived in the 1600s, wrote Meditations on First Philosophy, in which he seeks answer to his claim “I think, therefore I am.” In Meditation IV, Descartes eradicates all late thoughts and perceptions in order to understand what is really true and what is false. Questioning what he truly believes and sees , Descartes starts with questioning God, his authenticity, and his existence. Descartes argument comes to the conclusion that since the vision and idea of God was given to us, that means something supernatural must have placed it there. If something supernatural placed that belief there, God must exist then, and was the supernatural that gave us this idea. Now, since “God” placed the idea of himself within us, and this idea entails the belief that God is be perfect.
If God is perfect, then therefore it is impossible for God to deceive us, or any part of our vision of him to be deceiving or wrong. Descartes then raises the question, How is is possible that us imperfect humans had come from a perfect creator? (God) How could our understanding be anything but perfect? Descartes considers the God given free will that every man has within them, Descartes continues to say “I see that my God given ability to will is not itself the cause of my errors, my will is great, and it is a perfect thing of its kind. Neither is the power of my understanding the cause of my errors, whenever I understand something, I understand it correctly without the possibility of deception, since my understanding comes from God” (Descartes 149).
Acknowledging that his god given ability to will and understanding are not flawed, Descartes still seeks to find an answer to his errors, in which he will gain the answer on what wisdom truly means. Still being Puzzled by the exact source of the cause his errors, Descartes analyzes his judgement and decision making when influenced by the call for knowledge. He says “If i suspend judgment when I don’t clearly and distinctly grasp what is true, I obviously do right and am not deceived. But if i either affirm or deny in any case of this sort, I misuse my freedom of choice”. Descartes finishes with the conclusion that all humans have free will and free judgement.
Humans make errors and mistakes when we begin to use our free will without considering proper judgement. When free will is used and extended beyond proper judgement, insufficient knowledge and poor understanding contribute to mistakes and inadequate choices. In Descartes conclusion, a person whom has wisdom is one who is able to find the balance between free will and judgement. This person understands the effects that these two forces have on our decision making the wise man will use his free will to rationally make decisions that do not extend past their own judgement or understand, because that would be lead to errors.
Through the teachings and writings of Socrates, Plato, Descartes, and Russell, one is able to seek an answer to the question “what is wisdom?”, one of the most debated topics in philosophy itself. We learn that having wisdom is unique to each individual themself, a culmination of thought, judgement, actions,and values. One who has wisdom uses the right judgment, because our judgements are affected by our values free will. Good judgement does not allow them to be deceived by free will, thinking an action, even if in good spirit, may not be a wise one.
Their thoughts and actions are used after concluding that they are the conclusions have been made without being based off of any unknowns. Lastly, the wise man is the one who is able to recognize what he does not know, when he is wrong, and is able to admit too that. Furthermore, the wise man will seek to learn and be educated on what is unknown to him, gaining knowledge and wisdom to help him answer the questions of life and come to good conclusions.
Works Cited
- Perry, John, et al. Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings. Oxford University Press, 2012
