What is wisdom? A short history of wisdom.
Wisdom is often considered the pinnacle or hallmark of adult thinking. And it has a long historical root from psychology and philosophy. In fact, wisdom can be linked back as early to the work of Plato and Aristotle.
It has been pointed out there are three senses wisdom that includes sophia (in search of ultimate truth), phronesis (practical wisdom) and episteme (scientific knowledge). As an example, techne (technical knowledge) is like knowing how to make a good car but phronesis is the self-pursuit of perfection that enables us to know what is a good car. More important, this pursuit for this excellence, whilst it is self-initiated, is also mindful of the greater good. Also, phronesis focuses less on the outcome but more the spirit in which it is done. Therefore, it is because of this early influence, wisdom is often associated with a spiritual sense.
Despite this background, it is still not easy to define wisdom. However, there have been efforts in describing the attributes of wisdom, such as: associating wisdom with a person (i.e. a wise person); wisdom seems to grow with age; wisdom is related to specific time and context; and most of all, wisdom relates to values and moral systems.
Sternberg is one of the seminal scholars in the field of wisdom. He has published many papers on this topic and has been influential…
