by Orestes J. Gonzalez

Created on: September 25, 2008   Last Updated: May 24, 2012

Abstract

In this paper I examine closely the meaning of the term "wisdom" and provide some fundamental principles on which to base the answer to the question "What is wisdom?"

Exposition

The task of formulating an answer to the question "What is wisdom?" is not an easy one.

The "Oxford English Dictionary" summarizes the multiplicity of meanings of wisdom with a circular definition, "Wisdom is the quality or character of being wise, or something in which this is exhibited."

The dictionary proceeds immediately to clarify this definition by showing with a wealth of examples how the noun "wisdom" and the adjective "wise" have been used throughout the history of the English language.

A brief look at some of these clusters of meaning should be helpful here to provide an initial grasp of some of the issues involved when trying to understand and define what wisdom is.

The "Oxford English Dictionary" goes on to describe wisdom in three different ways.

We are told (a) that wisdom is the "capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct."

We are told (b) that wisdom means "soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends."

And we are told (c) that "sometimes, less strictly," wisdom can also be taken as "sound sense, especially in practical affairs."

Several samples from well known writers illustrate these descriptions in the dictionary.

Among others there appears "We allow every watch-maker so much wisdom as not to put any motion in his instrument, which is superfluous," from Wilkins (1640); and "By wisdom, I mean that attribute in God, whereby He orders and manages whatsoever He takes in hand, by the best means, in the best manner and to the best end," from Beveridge (1708.)

The dictionary also includes the following quotation from Cowper (1784): "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, have oftentimes no connexion;" and this statement from Manning (1875): "Illumination of the intellect, together with charity inflaming the heart, constitute the gift of wisdom."

Finally, according to the "Oxford English Dictionary," wisdom is as well a collective term used to refer to the Wisdom literature which comprises the biblical books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon. In this context, the "Oxford English Dictionary" also mentions that the word "wisdom" is used in the New Testament, in 1 Cor. 1:24, "as a title of the second person of the Trinity."

Another interesting cluster of meanings appears in the "Webster's Third

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