by Lucius Trae

Created on: March 30, 2010

In philosophy, many writers disagree about the meaning of things. From an English language perspective, you should turn to the dictionary to discover what wisdom "is." However, philosophers like William James and Ludwig Wittgenstein stressed the importance of understanding how language operates. Society decides the meaning of terms and can change those meanings. If we wished, we could define wisdom to mean "bravery."

Philosophers aren't debating the dictionary definitions. They are encountering something as they experience life and trying to pinpoint the nature of that experience. Imagine the difficulty our ancestors had in creating complex languages. If you saw someone act bravely. you might say "brave." It would take repeated exposure to different uses of "brave" for others to understand what you meant.

Similarly, we know there is a particular quality (wisdom) that varies amongst people. Some people are wiser than others. The exact meaning of "wisdom" isn't clear-cut. The definition is in the dictionary, but definitions do not entail meaning. A community may be defined logically, but that is not meaning of "being a community" that everyone associates with the word. It has larger connotations that are difficult to spell out. One job of the philosophers is to try and make sense of these situations.

Although wisdom is a complex quality, there are points of agreement. It's generally accepted to involve individuals utilizing "appropriate judgment." The most difficult task, for most people, is to distinguish wisdom from intelligence. Scientifically speaking, intelligence has evolved into "the ability to learn and apply knowledge in a manner that produces correct results." That's my personal summation of intelligence. An intelligent person might learn math, understand math, and quickly solve mathematical problems correctly.

A wise individual is usually depicted as intelligent, but this isn't always the case. This is where things become more difficult. The more elitist theorists, like Plato, attach wisdom to philosophers. However, there is a strong history associated with respecting the wisdom of elders. I think experience can provide individuals with knowledge about what is the "wise" thing to do in a particular situation. In my view, wisdom allows a person to see what "is or will" produce the best results.

Defining wisdom as such explains why different people interpret situations according to personal intuitions. The wise elder, for instance, had doubts about a

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