Wisdom is the ability to use: 1. Cognitive, reflective, and affective skills 2. To properly value, prioritize, *and act* for the [[Common human good|common human good]] 3. Balancing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal interests 4. [[Lifespan contextualism|Keeping context in mind]] 5. Over the short and long term 6. While following an [[Ecology of practices|ecology of practices]] 7. Involving a fundamental shift in [[Recursive Relevance Realization|relevance realization]] 8. Balancing western and eastern notions of enlightenment See more [[Characteristics of wise people]] here. ### Cognitive Skills Of Wisdom - Knowledge and Experience: Broad understanding across disciplines and diverse life experiences. - Critical Thinking: grasp and ability to apply rational thinking processes (logic, game theory, systems thinking, probability, Bayesian reasoning, ability to separate correlation from causation). - Intellectual/Creative Aptitude: Quick learning (intelligent), creative, and open to new experience. ### Reflective Skills Of Wisdom - Self-Awareness: Understanding one's thoughts, biases, and behaviors; includes metacognition and self-reflection. - Perspective-Taking: Ability to consider multiple viewpoints and contexts. - Epistemic Humility: Recognizing knowledge gaps and willingness to change beliefs. ### Affective Skills Of Wisdom - Empathy and Benevolence: Understanding others' feelings and caring for their welfare. - Emotional Regulation: Recognizing and managing the emotions of oneself and others in a positive manner. - Positive Mindset: Optimism balanced with realism; motivation to improve the world. - Intuition and Self-Discipline: Instinctive understanding of wise actions coupled with the ability to act on them even when you don't have motivation. # Folk Conceptions Of Wisdom According to folk conceptions of wisdom is the the ability to use cognitive, reflective, and affective skills to properly value, prioritize, and act for the greater good of humanity keeping context in mind.  [[The Psychology Of Wisdom An Introduction|(Sternberg & Glück, 2022)]] What I think these folk conceptions of wisdom are missing is two things: - First, is a balancing of western notions of enlightenment toward becoming more rational as well as eastern notions of enlightenment in coming in tune with the distortionary nature of the mind, desire, and language. There’s very little about Eastern enlightenment involved in this definition. It seems to be entirely Western as much of the Folk conceptions of wisdom are Western. - Second, they don’t describe wise people as fundamentally changing their relevance realization machinery. In order to be wise, you can’t sit and contemplate the right thing to do over hours and hours. You have to do the right thing automatically. - The affective aspect is missing emotional intelligence. The ability to control one’s feelings and impulses through influencing setting, attention, appraisal, and response as well as to understand and influence the feelings of others of course with wisdom. Malicious influencing is not wise. # Philosophical Theories Of Wisdom In philosophy there are three standard definitions for wisdom: - Epistemic Humility: awareness and humility about the limits of ones own knowledge - Practical Wisdom: deep comprehensive grasp of how we *ought* to live - Theoretical Wisdom: deep comprehensive grasp about how things *are* Plato himself had three definitions for wisdom: - Sophia: found in those who seek a contemplative life in search of truth. Love of wisdom. - Phronesis: practical wisdom shown by statesman and legislators - Episteme: understand the implications of scientific discoveries, [[Scientific wisdom|scientific wisdom]] *One type of wisdom I think is missing here is propositional wisdom which entails someone who can describe wise advice or the right thing to do, but doesn't embody it themselves.* People with theoretical wisdom have deep understanding about descriptive "truths" in the world--how things *are*, *work*, and *tend to be*, where as those with practical wisdom have deep understanding about prescriptive truths, how we *ought* to be, or what *matters*. Wisdom is what's called a prescriptive ideal in that it's the ideal we *ought* to aspire towards. According to some core philosophical conceptions, wisdom is a grasp of how one ought to conduct oneself all things considered in particular situations; it is an intellectual virtue that guides and controls the character virtues. In this way wisdom is seen as the *master virtue.* It's the guiding light for the other virtues. This is why I think [[A need for cognition is a prescriptive ideal for wisdom]]. Wisdom is like the captain of a ship. Just as the captain navigates through storms and calm waters alike, steering the vessel toward its destination, wisdom guides the other virtues, ensuring they are applied correctly and effectively in life's journey. Without a capable captain, even a well-built ship with a strong crew could lose its way. ### *However, this definition has some problems.* **First, what is considered good conduct differs across cultures, and people's.** Introverts will respond differently than extroverts. Those with riches differently than those without. One way to counterargue this problem is to say the end goals of wisdom in good conduct are the same, but the means of reaching it differ by individual circumstance. **Secondly, another difficulty is the Unity Of The Virtues.** This claims if one has one virtue, they must have all of them. To act truly honestly, to tell the truth in the right circumstances, at the right time, for the right reasons, one must have the virtue of compassion to know how and when to help others in the right circumstances, at the right time, and for the right reasons. But regularly in daily life we say someone has one virtue and not the others. By the unity of virtue this shouldn’t be possible. One counterargument is we are ascribing psychological traits to these people but not true virtues. Saying someone is brave might been they are good in the face of fear but not that they are truly courageous in the virtue sense. Another counterargument is we can have wisdom in domains of life but they might not intersect. For example, to be an honest parent one must also be a compassionate one but this doesn't mean they will be a compassionate and honest co-worker. This argument resonates with me because of all the historical figures we know who were wise in one domain, but terrible in others. One more counterargument is we can have a degree of virtue. We might be quite honest but we don’t have the courage to be honest in all situations that would be wise to be. # Psychological Theories Of Wisdom ## Balance Theory Of Wisdom By Sternberg The balance theory of wisdom, proposed by psychologist Robert J. Sternberg, suggests that wisdom is the ability to balance personal interests with the interests of others and broader societal or environmental concerns. It involves the practical application of knowledge, considering short-term and long-term consequences, and integrating competing interests to achieve the common good. Wisdom, in this theory, requires adapting to, shaping, or selecting environments in ways that promote harmony and well-being for both oneself and others. **The major issue with the theory is it doesn’t talk about what a wise decision looks like.** ## The Tree Of Philosophy (TOP) Theory Of Wisdom By Sternberg Sternberg realized the psychological theories of wisdom in the present tend not to borrow from ideas of old. So Sternberg went back into philosophy and tried to combine all of the most important fields to come to an idea of wisdom. The TOP Theory of Wisdom doesn’t say what a wise decision is. But it provides seven criteria you can put every decision through to assess if it’s a wise decision. What TOP includes: - Epistemology: knowing what one knows, what one does not know, what one could know at a given time and place, and what one could not know at a given time and place. - Ontology: What you do, how you act. One can’t be wise by just thinking about wisdom. They must act wisely as well. - Ethics: Asking is what I’m doing the right thing to do not just for me but for other people, and the world. - Logic: wise judgment is based on logical, internally consistent reasoning - Aesthetics: what you find beautiful, harmonious or elegant. What you believe has quality. Wise judgments possess an underlying harmony with the world and a simplicity at the base of complexity. If there isn’t a certain aesthetic to what you are doing, ask if it’s something worth doing. - Hermeneutics: how you judge and evaluate things. Wise judgements are based on careful evaluation of facts and are based on the true state of the world, not the imagined wished for one. - Axiology: wise judgments are good judgements with respect to what is valuable and what is not.