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Understanding Wisdom Editor’s Note “At present there can be little doubt that the whole of mankind is in mortal danger, not because we are short of scientific and technological know-how, but because we tend to use it destructively, without wisdom. More education can help us only if it produces more...
How Can Life of Value Best Flourish in the Real World? The Urgent Need for an Intellectual Revolution For much of my working life (from 1972 onwards) I have argued, in and out of print, that we need to bring about a revolution in the aims and methods of science...
Confucius and Socrates Teaching Wisdom Introduction When contemplating what philosophical contribution can be made to education, one way to begin is to look at the origin of the word “philosophy,” which derives from Greek, and means literally “the love of wisdom.” In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates said that those whose ideas...
What Is Sophism? Sophism in the modern definition is a specious argument used for deceiving someone. In ancient Greece, sophists were a category of teachers who specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric for the purpose of teaching arete — excellence, or virtue — predominantly to young statesmen...
What Is Perspicacity? Perspicacity (also called perspicaciousness) is a penetrating discernment (from the Latin perspicācitās, meaning sharpsightedness, discrimination)—a clarity of vision or intellect which provides a deep understanding and insight. In 17th-century Europe, René Descartes devised systematic rules for clear thinking in his work Regulæ ad directionem ingenii (Rules for the direction of natural intelligence). In Descartes’ scheme, intelligence consisted...
The Key to Wisdom Nearly forty years ago I discovered a profoundly significant idea – or so I believe. Since then, I have expounded and developed the idea in six books[1] and countless articles published in academic journals and other books.[2] I have talked about the idea in universities and...
Sophology: The Study of Wisdom An Exploratory Essay Outline: Wisdom: preliminary notion Analysis of the situation calling for wisdom What wisdom is not Wisdom, psychiatry, midwifery Sophology as a justified neologism: against philosophy Some analogies of wisdom Winning, losing – losing one’s soul Economics as a pseudo-analogy of wisdom The...
The Wisdom of Rumi Main articles: Rumi, Jalaladdin al – Rumi, Mevlânâ Celâleddin Mehmed Rumi’s Biography, Prayers Of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Prayers Quotes by Rumi , Rumi Quotes, Poems by Rumi His poetry speaks the universal language of love, faith, and tolerance, and he has been hailed by numerous literary...
Where Is The Wisdom We Have Lost In Knowledge? If you travel northwest from Athens, on the road to Corinth, you will come to the ruins of the once great city of Delphi. Delphi is the place once thought by the Greeks to be the center of the world. Here,...
The 7 Dimensions of Wisdom Get Out of Your Own Way: Coaching and Self-Development Using SOPPHIA The concept of wisdom is as old as human civilization. It implies that the greatest challenge that each of us faces is ourselves. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom, and in mythology was...
The Rosewood Report on Practical Wisdom At end the of July, 2010, a small group of philosophers and psychologists (see participant list at the end of this report) met at the Rosewood Inn in Hastings, Minnesota to talk about wisdom.1 The workshop included five sessions. The first four were organized...
WISDOM: The Highest Aim of Life and Higher Education A “Thomas P. Johnson Distiguished Visiting Scholar” talk given by Copthorne Macdonald at Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida on April 5, 2006. (Also available as a Flash streaming video presentation.) This evening I want to have a conversation with you about three...
Why Knowledge Without Wisdom Is Dangerous “Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an ass.” The Japanese certainly have a way with words. But surely that ass is still better off with the books than without them? In England, learning is so highly prized that...
Wisdom and Wilderness Wisdom and wilderness are awesome words. They inspire feelings of profound respect, a little fear, and wonder when we recall how little we know about them. It is something like talking about God or joy or love; most people would rather not. These subjects are what engineers...
Prajna (Hinduism) Prajña or Pragya (प्रज्ञ) as प्रज्ञा, प्राज्ञ and प्राज्ञा is used to refer to the highest and purest form of wisdom, intelligence and understanding. Pragya is the state of wisdom which is higher than the knowledge obtained by reasoning and inference. See also: Prajñā (Buddhism) Meaning The Sanskrit word प्रज्ञ...
What Is Sentience? Sentience is the capacity to feel, perceive or experience subjectively.[1] Eighteenth-century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think (reason) from the ability to feel (sentience). In modern Western philosophy, sentience is the ability to experience sensations (known in philosophy of mind as “qualia”). In Eastern philosophy, sentience...
Sophia in Gnosticism Sophia (“Wisdom”, “the Sophia”[1]) is a major theme, along with Knowledge (gnosis, Coptic sooun), among many of the early Christian knowledge-theologies grouped by the heresiologist Irenaeus as gnostikos, “learned”. Gnosticism is a 17th-century term expanding the definition of Irenaeus’ groups to include other syncretic and mystery religions.[2] In gnosticism, Sophia is a feminine...
What Is Chokhmah? Chokmâh (חָכְמָה ,חכמה, ḥoḵmah or khok-maw’) is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as “wisdom” in English Bible versions (LXX σοφία sophia, Vulgate sapientia). The word occurs 149 times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) describes knowledge of the Talmudic order of Kodshim as a high level of wisdom, chokhmah. It is cognate with the Arabic word...
What Is Sophiology? Sophiology (Софиология, by detractors also called Sophianism Софианство or Sophism Софизм) is a controversial school of thought in Russian Orthodoxy, concerned with the interpretation of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) which has been misunderstood as a feminine “fourth hypostasis” .[1] The controversy has roots in the early modern period, but sophiology as a theological...
Sophia (wisdom) Sophia (σοφία sophía “wisdom“) is a central idea in Hellenistic philosophy and religion, Platonism, Gnosticism, and Christian theology. Originally carrying a meaning of “cleverness, skill”, the later meaning of the term, close to the meaning of Phronesis (“wisdom, intelligence”), was significantly shaped by the term philosophy (“love of wisdom”) as used by Plato. In...
What Is Taoist Philosophy? Taoist philosophy (道家; dàojiā; lit. “school or family of the Tao”) also known as Taology (道學; dàoxué; lit. “learning of the Tao”) refers to the various philosophical currents of Taoism, a tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (道; Dào; literally: ‘the Way’, also romanized as Dao). The Tao is a mysterious...
What Is Socialism? Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers’ self-management,[10] as well as the political theories and movements associated with them.[11] Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative ownership, or citizen ownership of equity.[12] There are many...
Who Is Noam Chomsky? Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive...
Who Is Jeremy Bentham? Jeremy Bentham (15 February 1748 [O.S. 4 February 1747][2] – 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism.[3][4] Bentham defined as the “fundamental axiom” of his philosophy the principle that “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of...
Who Is John Locke? John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism”.[9][10][11] Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon, he is equally...
Who Is Thomas Hobbes? Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), in some older texts Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury,[4] was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern Political Philosophy.[5][6] Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, which expounded an influential formulation of social contract theory.[7] In...
