Wisdom by PhDs + Hundreds of strangers
I recently came across this article about the meaning of Wisdom. The researchers who came up with the meaning obtained it from what they call Experimental Philosophy, which basically means they asked many culturally and geographically diverse people for their personal meaning of this particular philosophical concept and then tried to gauge what the answers had in common.
Here’s exactly what they got:
There are two key characteristics. Reflective orientation is about people who think before acting, carefully consider different perspectives, and use logic and past experiences to guide their decisions. They’re the type of person who keeps their cool in difficult situations, taking time to weigh all the options before making a move.
The second is socio-emotional awareness. Wise people are good at understanding and caring about the thoughts and feelings of others. They pay attention to emotions and consider different views on the situation. Such an individual might be skilled at mediating conflicts by understanding each party’s point of view, or be adept at providing emotional support during difficult times.
Together, these two dimensions combine to form the global image of wisdom. The study suggests that the wisest people are those who balance both, showing strong abilities in reasoning while also being emotionally and socially aware.
As per this definition, I’m a very unwise person, given that I often value acting quickly instead of analyzing in depth. My constant decision to leave the premises immediately without checking if I’m carrying my bag/passport/phone/children would point in that direction too.
Wisdom for 3 year olds
The article struck a chord because I happen to be teaching a bit about Wisdom to my kids recently. There is this series of books called “Big Ideas for Little Philosophers” which present several concepts in a way that is accessible for children. They always start with a definition of Wisdom:
Who knew Socrates had such a zany dog?
According to this definition, knowing things that help you live better and happier is wisdom. But what kind of things? In this particular book, the examples are about how being truthful is the wise thing to do, even if it may not easy in many circumstances. Knowing how to act (like being truthful always) is what makes you wise.
Wisdom by nerds
The final definition that resonates with me is the one from Dungeons and Dragons. In the game, you define a character by 6 attributes, 3 physical and 3 mental. The mental attributes are Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma, while the physical ones are Strength, Dexterity and Constitution.
The best example I’ve found describing these attributes is this 🍅
- Strength is being able to crush a tomato.
- Dexterity is being able to dodge a tomato.
- Constitution is being able to eat a bad tomato.
- Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
- Wisdom is knowing not to put a tomato in a fruit salad.
- Charisma is being able to sell a tomato-based fruit salad.
Knowing how to apply your knowledge is wisdom. Meta-knowledge? This definition resonates the most with me (my nerd status notwithstanding).
Wisdom as accrued and varied knowledge
I believe Wisdom comes not from a method of doing things (as the PhDs define it), but from an accrual of knowledge (as the toddler books and D&D suggest). The method is just the result of the accrued knowledge: people who analyze decisions most likely have found over time that some time spent analyzing or trying to reach decisions that make people as happy as possible will lead to better results in the long run, and so they do it. But they are not wise because they exhibit those two behaviors; rather, they are wise because they have accrued knowledge that makes them act that way (and probably also makes them do a thousand other wise things, not reported in the study).
If this is true, then Wisdom is a skill that can only be acquired by living a broad range of experiences and learning about a broad range of topics. Knowing that a tomato doesn’t belong in a fruit salad is a result of knowing about both tomatoes and salads.
Another teaching in my kids’ book is that you should wonder at stuff everyday (such as what is wisdom, or anything else really). I think that nails the road towards Wisdom: If you keep wondering about the many aspects of the world, you will keep learning, and that will make you wiser in the long run. Maybe keeping that child-like wonder around is useful after all.
