What is wisdom?

The prophet Jacob in the Book of Mormon provides one of the most succinct injunctions in scripture when he says, ‘O be wise; what can I say more?’ (Jacob 6:12). To Jacob’s question after the injunction, I would ask many of the following questions,

• Can you describe wisdom?
• Is wisdom that much different than knowledge?
• Does wisdom require an existence with randomness or uncertainty?
• Can one exemplify wisdom in a world without unknowns?
• Is wisdom like love in that it requires other beings to exist for it to exist?
• Is wisdom just an attribute of fallen man or does God have wisdom?

It is fascinating to me that Jacob thought this phrase was so apparent to his family and those that would read his writing. Maybe his time is not much different than ours. Everyone can give you a heuristic definition of wisdom, but defining it and what makes it different from other attributes seems much harder.

If people don’t share their own definitions, they usually share an example or witty quote. Miles Kington provided a humorous quote that I have heard shared, ‘Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.’ Many share the example of King Solomon offering to cut a child in half in 1 Kings 3:16-28. But what is the definition of wisdom?

Definitions of the wisdom of humans

Robert J. Sternberg has done the most research on wisdom that I could find during my search for a definition. I recently read two books that he edited - Wisdom: Its nature, origins, and development and Why smart people can be so stupid where he contributed critical articles defining wisdom. Below are a few of his summaries of the definitions of the other contributing authors in his first chapter of Wisdom titled ‘Understanding Wisdom’.

Defintion 1

Wise persons are viewed as having exceptional insight into human development and life matters and as having exceptionally good judgment, advice, and commentary about difficult life problems. Five criteria for assessing wisdom are

1. rich factual knowledge about matters of life,
2. rich procedural knowledge about life problems,
3. knowledge about the contexts of life and their relationships,
4. knowledge about differences in values and priorities, and
5. knowledge about the relative indeterminacy and unpredictability of life. (Pg. 5 summarizing Paul B. Baltes & Jacqui Smith)

Defintion 2

The wise person is one who appreciates the fallibility of knowledge. (Pg. 6 summarizing John A. Meacham)

Definition 3

Wisdom comprises four aspects:

1. a recognition of the presence of unavoidably difficult and inherently thorny problems that confront all adults;
2. a comprehensive grasp of knowledge that is characterized by both breadth and depth of understanding;
3. a recognition that knowledge is uncertain and that it is not possible for truth to be absolutely knowable at any given time; and
4. a willingness and exceptional ability to formulate sound, executable judgments in the face of life’s uncertainties. (Pg. 7 summarizing Karen Kitchener and Helene Brenner )

Definition 4

Wisdom and problem finding, although not identical, are highly related. Shared between them are

1. preoccupation with questions rather than answers,
2. the search for complementarity among points of view,
3. the detection of asymmetry in the face of evidence implying symmetry and equilibrium,
4. openness to change, pushing of the limits and possible redefinition of those limits,
5. a sense of taste for problems that are of fundamental importance, and
6. preference for certain conceptual directions (Pg. 7 summarizing Patricia Arlin)

Definition 5

There are five key wisdom-related processes:

1. recognition of individuality,
2. recognition of context,
3. ability to interact effectively,
4. understanding of change and growth, and
5. Attention to affect and cognition. (Pg. 8 summarizing Deirdre Kramer)

Definition 6

In ‘The elements of wisdom: overview and integrations’ by Birren and Fisher, which is the last chapter of the Wisdom book, they provide some succinct definitions of wisdom.

Wisdom cannot be viewed apart from humans; it does not exist in a vacuum. … a wise person has a highly developed personality, can transcend narcissism, and is aware of his or her limitations. … wisdom is best conceptualized as being the result of an interaction between three systems of behavior: cognition, affect, and conation. The matter cannot rest there, however, since time plays a role. (Pg. 327)

The multiple regression equation, which expresses the qualities of the individual, has to be weighted differently depending upon the context of the problem and the time constraints. … Generally, wise persons are thought to project the consequences of their solutions far into the future: … what is good for the greatest number of people for the long run is presumably the most wise decision (Pg. 322)

Conclusion

Almost all of the definitions of wisdom include the ability to handle change and a lack of knowledge within the context of time-based decisions. They highlight the achievement of high levels of knowledge and tacit knowledge as well as the handling of complex decisions within relationships.

The quotes are trying to describe the wisdom as observed in humans. What details of these quotes can express the wisdom of God? Similar to my previous post where I asked, ‘Does God exercise faith?’, I think that many of the above definitions can describe wisdom for all intelligent beings. In a future post, I will tackle the attribute of wisdom in God.

This post is part of a series on wisdom. The next in this series is The scale from foolish to wise (1 Corinthians 1:25).

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