Wisdom and Knowledge, Not a Black and White Situation
To understand wisdom is to understand the catch phrase of the board game Othello “A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.” Like the catch phrase, it takes a few minutes to learn something but to obtain wisdom from this knowledge takes years to develop. Othello is in a group of games which anyone can learn to how the game works the first time playing, but cannot win on knowledge alone. If a Harvard graduate and a high school dropout were to play Othello against each other and both had played before and were of equal ability to play, they may be tied in their skill. In the world of Othello, or any mastery game, we are all equal in knowledge, what sets us apart in these games is wisdom.
Wisdom is action based on understanding and logic attained and stored from past events in a person's life. This knowledge and action is used for the public good and without the purpose of use, as Schaefer points out in his writings on Aristotle's theories, wisdom becomes merely prudence.
Prudence and wisdom are separable from one another, since men like An Axagaoras and Thales, being apparently "ignorant of what is to their own advantage," are said to have the latter but not the former, and are thought to "know things that are remarkable, admirable, difficult, and divine, but useless; viz. because it is not human goods that they seek" (VI.7). But if it is the mark of the prudent man to possess knowledge, i.e., a reasoned understanding of the goals of action, and if the political philosopher is the architect of the end with reference to which what is good simply is determined, we must wonder how far it is possible to be prudent in the strict sense without possessing philosophic wisdom.
Yet, action alone is not what makes a person wise. Action must be based on events, knowledge and theories which are understood beforehand in order to be considered wisdom.
Due to a great misunderstanding, many who have a grasp of knowledge are mistaken as wise, as people who can comprehend and act with sufficiency, yet do not know they posses knowledge are mistaken as being absent of wisdom. In Aristotle's words "some who do not know, and especially those who have experience, are more practical than others who know." This is the reason why a graduate from Harvard and a high school dropout can be equal opponents in Othello. This is practical wisdom which every human is capable of. “Practical wisdom is not the prerogative of the few, but is accessible to all. Even so, it is not an automatic acquisition. To begin with, individuals have a certain responsibility, along with parents and teachers, for what they become” (Almond). We all have brains; we just use them in different ways.
Just because knowledge alone does not make a person wise, it does help. Knowledge is a great way to obtain understanding and comprehension. If everyone were to learn by action alone, half the population of the planet would be dead. “Knowledge can and indeed must accompany wisdom. People need knowledge to draw upon in rendering judgments-knowledge of human nature, of life circumstances, or of strategies that succeed and those that fail” (Sternberg). Knowledge is the addition to wisdom which makes the actions associated with a wise person much easier to comprehend. Someone without knowledge, but with wisdom, would have to explain their actions within their own understanding which can be confusing and easily mis-judged, while a person with knowledge and wisdom could explain their thoughts and actions in a way which is already known and comprehensible.
The connotation of wisdom is usually of an older person who has lived through many experiences and has acted upon them in ways which they have seen to be successful or unsuccessful. In some ways it is true that the older a person is, the more wisdom they have. In studies taken assessing wisdom, the older participants were proven more successful then the younger ones.
Such a finding suggests that, as we continue our search for top performances, the "world record" in wisdom-related knowledge may very well be held by someone in the last season of life, someone rather old who has not been struck by a brain disease and has participated in a favorable, wisdom-prone set of life circumstances. (Bales)
The collection of wisdom mainly relies on life experience so it only makes sense that someone who has had more life experience would have compiled more wisdom than someone who has yet to have as many experiences. But this does not mean that younger people lack wisdom. The saying “wise beyond his age” did not come out of nowhere. There are many young people who have seen events, taken action before their time, and amassed massive amounts of knowledge before many of their older counterparts. Yet, at some point, they too will grow old and in their old age will have even more knowledge than when they were young.
In order to have a stable society, the people of that society must have wisdom (Almond). In a civilization that lacks or has forgotten the importance of wisdom, the lives of its people are usually inadequate and miserable and its government broken. But after seeing this downfall and corruption, the people of this society grow knowledgeable and wise from their harsh surroundings. Nearly every golden age rises from the ashes of a dark age. The Renaissance arose from the Dark Ages, The Pax Mongolica from the Huns devastating conquests, The Elizabethan Age from the Reign of the Tudors. All of these golden ages came from the knowledge and wisdom developed during such dark times. Unfortunately, this wisdom can only be passed down for so many years, and the dark times are forgotten, along with them, the wisdom they birthed.
Every human, from their first moments of breath to their last, has strived for wisdom. Many claim to be wise, but they are merely prudent, lacking great action and use of their knowledge. The true character of a person is not the knowledge they have but the wisdom they have developed.
Works Cited
Almond, Brenda. “Seeking Wisdom”, Philosophy, Vol 72.281 (Jul, 1997), 417-
433, JSTOR
Baltes, Paul and Staudinger, Ursula “The Search for a Psychology of Wisdom
Current Directions in Psychological Science”, Vol 2.3 (Jun, 1993), 75-80,
JSTOR
Schaefer, David L. “Wisdom & Morality: Aristotle's Account of Akrasia”, Polity
Vol. 21, No. 2 (Winter, 1988), pp. 221-251, JSTOR
Sternberg, Robert J. “What Is Wisdom and How Can We Develop It?” Annals
of the American Academy
Development: Realizing the Potential of Youth (Jan, 2004), 164-174, JSTOR
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