Wisdom

[ckj846]

I am doing a wisdom project for school in which you interview various people of different ethnic backrounds and ages on wisdom. I was just thinking to myself, what really is the definition of wisdom? Is it intelligence, experience, knowledge of certain topics. In my mind, being wise is someone who is a leader who has experienced many things. A wise person is someone you could look to for advice. What are your opinions on wisdom?

O_o

[Omeganitros]

Wisdom is not intelligence. I know that, at least.

[Cj_leonine]

Originally Posted by Omeganitros

Wisdom is not intelligence. I know that, at least.

Yea that's a tough one. I would say wisdom is not so much as bieng smart but just having a wide base of knowledge based on your experiences. Theres more to it than that though.

Just hard to really explain.

[lord_carbo]

I believe wisdom is sort-of like the street smarts of life. There are knowledgeable people (who know stuff), there are intelligent people (who can solve problems well), then there are wise people.

[ckj846]

Could you be a bit more specific? I think that wise people are a combination of things that people look up to. It seems to me that age also has to do with wisdom. I'm just saying that you don't really see a wise seven year old as much as you see a sixty year old. Would you consider wise people mystics?
O_o

[JurseyRider734]

People with common sense. Like me.

Intelligence is basically copying information from a book into your head, but real wisdom is pretty rare. Usually people who are observant or give good advice are wise, like me. 8)

[MalReynolds]

Or, you know... Stubborn. Being stubborn isn't wisdom or common sense. Common sense is not touching the stove, because it's red hot... Not yelling at people for having different views. 8)

But wisdom isn't always common sense. It's also the thought process. It's being able to mentally put things together without help, I think.

Mal

[Reach]

Wisdom is about having good judgement, as well as vast knowledge.

[Synthlight]

In my eyes, wisdom is the ability to react correctly in any situation that presents itself. It is also closely related to insight.

Cheers,

Synthlight

[Tasselfoot]

You guys are all missing this....


Intelligence is for Mages
Wisdom is for Clerics.

Duh. If you want to cast all kinds of COOL spells with fire and ice and shooting projectiles, not to mention crazy walls, floating protection fists, magical watchdogs, etc you need Intelligence. If you want to PRAY for your abilities and be able to heal, turn zombies, and have not nearly as cool ways to injure your enemies... you need Wisdom.

Or you could just use your STR and bear your way through everyone. I like that strategy personally. A good REND never left anyone the same way as before.

[Anuj]

[quote="JurseyRider734"]People with common sense. Like me.quote]

My, aren't we cocky? =P

But yeah, as its been stated already, wisdom is more like common sense... If you are presented with a situation you've never faced before, you'd probably do much better than somebody who has lots of intelligence, but very little wisdom, and very little experience with the same sitution...

Intelligence on the other hand, is book smart... There are many booksmart people out there, but there are less smart smart (wise) people out there in my opinion.

What can I say, the world is full of dumbasses =P

[Synthlight]

That reminds me of that story about the guy who knew everything about every breed of horse but sat on the saddle backwards.

Cheers,

Synthlight

[talisman]

You people all have mixed up definitions of intelligence. Intelligence covers all sorts of different areas of learning, comprehension, expression, plasticity, adaptibility, and the ability to connect input and memory in order to maximize the benefits of output.

Wisdom is a word typically applied to those who have acquired lots of information and are able to apply it reatively and uniquely to various situations. It's just another form of intelligence.

[Reach]

Yes. Intelligence doesn't have anything to do with being book smart. You've all been brainwashed by the school system after the years of being told that getting high grades means you're smart XD

Considering we arn't even sure what intelligence is, it's kind of hard to test it.

[igotrhythm]

Tass officially wins this thread for interpreting "Wisdom" as a typical RPG might.

Synth comes in second for having a very simple and rational explanation despite his non-existence. :P

[lord_carbo]

Tass FTW!!! Damnit times likes these make me wish I actually could find people to play D&D, although these moments are rare

[Jam930]

Knowledge is just what you know. You can teach a monkey new tricks but it isn't really any more intelligent.

Intelligence is how you can work with creativity and knowledge. Thinking power and mental organization.

Wisdom is decision making... a successful combination of knowledge and intelligence through experience.


This is just kinda how I see it.

[iggymatrixcounter]

simply put:
intelligence is knowing what to do (eat more fruits)
discernment is knowing when to use intelligence (I should eat when hungry)
wisdom is actually applying intelligence (I'm now eating an apple)

That's my opinion

[esupin]

Sophocles:
"A short saying often contains much wisdom."

Wisdom is not about what you know, it's about what you have experienced or what you do in reaction to certain circumstances.

People can grow smarter, but they might not nessecarily be more wise. Think of a caveman. If he finds a club, he's going to find someone or something to hit. We have technologically progressed a great deal in these thousands of years, obviously, but are we any more wise?
Instead of using clubs, we now use bombs.

[MonkeyFoo]

My 2 cents (AKA MonkeyFoo's First Treatise on Wisdom):

Intelligence is the mental component of the ability to adapt to one's surroundings. (from a psych textbook, loosely)

Knowledge is, well, what you know.

Wisdom is a subcategory of knowledge. It is knowledge about situations that you already have, so you can react to situations that you have learned about through experience or otherwise. It is knowledge telling us what to do in a certain type of situation.

For example, if you come to a round hole and you have 2 pegs to try to fit into it, you could use your intelligence, which tells you that the square peg's corners stick out too much to fit. Or, you could use your wisdom, which tells you that you need the same shape peg as the hole in order to get the peg through.

Wisdom does not need to be deep thought. It is simply knowledge about what to do in given situations, and a lot of it is very common.

Finally, intelligence is more helpful in the capitalist society we have, because it helps us to adapt to the swiftly changing marketplace. Intelligence is more valuable anyway, because it can take the place of wisdom, but if the predicament is something deep and value-based, the wisdom generated by others' intelligence is useful because:
A. You know if it is good wisdom if it has survived many years in the marketplace of ideas.
B. It takes a long time to generate your own solution to many such problems.
C. You may not be very intelligent, so developing your wisdom can help you make better decisions despite this deficiency.

I need to stop myself now or else I will become less coherent, but I will address what Esupin wrote here:

You're exactly right about the fact that people can become smarter without getting wiser. I think you fly way out to the left, however, when you suggest that we are no wiser than cavemen. Back then, there were no means to record wisdom other than personal memory. There wasn't even verbal communication (probably). Now, we have millenia of wisdom built up. Much of our wisdom today comes from holy books like the Bible.

This brings me to the fact that sometimes, wisdom can get outdated. The wisdom of the most intelligent people of centuries past may not be as good as the best we are capable of today. For example, the Bible says that, to treat leprosy, a priest should look upon the skin of the afflicted, and if he see black skin with white hair upon it, he is to scream "Unclean!" twice, and then shut up the afflicted in a room for seven days, and then repeat the process thereafter. This is NOT the best way to treat leprosy. The field of medicine is an example of wisdom that is constantly being updated, and is typically less reliable the further back into history you follow it.

I need to stop writing now, I hope that you all have a better understanding of at least how I view wisdom.