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 In Hinduism Prajna, Prajña or Pragya (प्रज्ञ) as प्रज्ञा, प्राज्ञ and प्राज्ञा is used to refer to the highest and purest form of wisdom, intelligence and understanding in Hinduism. Pragya is the state of wisdom which is higher than the knowledge obtained by reasoning and inference. Meaning The Sanskrit word...
Sophia In Gnosticism Sophia (“Wisdom“, “the Sophia”) 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. In gnosticism, Sophia is a...
From Chaos To Order This article covers how to achieve From Chaos To Order. For several centuries, with respect to our understanding of morality, virtue, science, and knowledge, our society has had the appearance of a wreck. It has been searching for an alternative system of order and thought in...
Constructivism (Philosophy of Education) Constructivism in education has roots in Epistemology. The learner has prior knowledge and experiences, which is often determined by their social and cultural environment. Learning is therefore done by students’ “constructing” knowledge out of their experiences. While the Behaviorist school of learning may help understand what...
Jain Epistemology According to Jain epistemology, sense perception is the knowledge which the Jīva (soul) acquires of the environment through the intermediary of material sense organs. Jainism made its own unique contribution to this mainstream development of philosophy by occupying itself with the basic epistemological issues. According to Jains, knowledge is the...
What Is Empiricism? In philosophy, empiricism is a theory that states that Empiricism comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with empiricism, knowledge, epistemology, the study of human knowledge, rationalism, skepticism, empiricists, philosophy of science, empirical evidence, philosophy,...
Positivism And Rationalism This article covers Positivism and Rationalism. What should be Our Attitude against Positivism and Rationalism? How much Truth is in them? Much has been said on the issue of information sources. Some of the people who have commented on this issue have sometimes been restricted by their...
What Is Rationalism? In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that “regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge” or “any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification”. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory “in which the criterion of the...
Education From Cradle To Grave This article covers the importance of education. Introduction The main duty and purpose of human life is to seek understanding. The effort of doing so, known as education, is a perfecting process though which we earn, in the spiritual, intellectual, and physical dimensions of their...
Jam’ (Absorption) Jam’ (absorption) literally means coming and bringing together. In the language of Sufism, it means fixing all one’s feeling, sight and consciousness on the Truth, to the extent that one is absorbed in Him and does not feel the existence of the world with all that is in...
What Is Hikmah? Hikmah (also Hikmat, حكمة, ḥikma, literally wisdom, philosophy; rationale, underlying reason) is a concept in Islamic philosophy and law. Mulla Sadra defined hikmah as “coming to know the essence of beings as they really are” or as “a man’s becoming an intellectual world corresponding to the objective world”. Various Islamic commentaries describe...
‘Ilm (Knowledge) Knowledge (‘ilm) means information obtained through the human senses or through the Revelations or inspiration of God. It is also used to denote information that is in agreement with facts or realities, and to denote understanding something with its real, whole meaning and content. In addition, we come...
Hikma (Wisdom) Hikma (Wisdom), meaning knowledge, the understanding of Divine commandments, of philosophy, of the real reasons for the existence of events and of things, and grasping the goals and benefits in religion, has been interpreted by the exacting scholars of truth as being able to combine useful knowledge and...
‘Ashq (Passion or Intense, Ecstatic Love) ‘Ashq (Passion or Intense, Ecstatic Love) means intense love of and fondness for perfection, beauty, or physical charm. Sufis usually call this sort of love figurative or metaphorical love, such as love for the opposite sex. Real love, the love of the Eternal Monarch,...
Futuwwa (Youth and Chivalry) Futuwwa (Youth and Chivalry), defined as youth and chivalry, is really a composite of such virtues as generosity, munificence, modesty, chastity, trustworthiness, loyalty, mercifulness, knowledge, humility, and piety. It is a station on the path to God as well as a dimension of sainthood, and also signifies...
What Is Ma’rifat? In Sufism, ma’rifat (معرفة, ma‘rifah, ‘knowledge’) describes the mystical intuitive knowledge of spiritual truth reached through ecstatic experiences, rather than revealed or rationally acquired. A seeker of ma’rifa is called ‘arif, “the one who knows”.[1] In one of the earliest accounts of the Maqamat-l arba’in (“forty stations”) in Sufism, Sufi master Abu Said ibn Abi’l-Khayr lists ma’rifa as the...
Poetry And Wisdom It has been said that the proper language of wisdom is poetry. We realize this when we read the classic texts of the world’s great sapiential traditions. The literature of antiquity, indeed, when not merely factual or legislative, lives most often within an aura which is at...
How Does The Qur’an Regard “Knowledge”? What are the differences between the Islamic and the modern scientific points of view on knowledge (‘ilm)? How does the Qur’an regard “knowledge”? Genuine knowledge (‘ilm) is a source of infinite light covered with truth, which leads enlightened people toward the righteous path. Modern...