WISDOM FAQ
There are a number of Frequently Asked Questions concerning wisdom. This page addresses them.
What is wisdom?
How do knowledge, understanding, and wisdom differ?
What makes wisdom valuable?
Why is wisdom associated with old men with long white beards?
How is Wisdom obtained?
Does being wise make you happier?
Is there a quick way to become wise?
Why are owls associated with learning and wisdom?
Is there a God of Wisdom?
Data - a basic piece of information.
Facts / factoids - basic information - requires models and categorisation structures to establish relevance for accumulation into
Information - A set of structured relevant data and facts. Aggregated into a body with further models and epistemological structures it can become
Knowledge - A larger body of structured relevant information.
Understanding - Comprehension of the broader implications of a set of knowledge within a framework of models, circumstances and events / actions. It can combine with
Experience - an accumulation of knowledge, lessons, events, trials and outcomes gathered over a period of time, which sufficiently pursued can combine with additional knowledge and learning to become
Wisdom - A broader understanding within a wider perspective of context, models, knowledge, and experience.
Consideration of the following wisdoms may assist understanding:
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
There is an exception to every rule and this is the exception to this one.
Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.
He who makes the rules can break the rules.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
An expert is someone who understands how much they don't know about their field of expertise.
Human knowledge and understanding has tended to be classified into particular disciplines - Science, Engineering, Law, Accountancy, Education, Philosophy, Arts and so forth. Each has sub-disciplines, thus Science - Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Economics, Geology, Medicine, Physics, Psychiatry, Sociology, and on it goes. Each has its own paradigms, world views and associated models and categorical structures for documenting and understanding the information and knowledge within its discipline.
Thus, when considering an issue such as Choice, Free Will, and Responsibility, various disciplines have very different models, bodies of knowledge, and ways of viewing the matter. Consider the question of choice, responsibility, punishment and sentencing for a person who has committed a crime / sin against a fellow human - (a) selling him illegal and potentially addictive harmful drugs for his pleasurable enjoyment, or (b) a driver taking prescribed medication for depression while going through a bad divorce who hurts a cyclist with a vehicle in a moment of careless distraction. How different are the viewpoints of:
The police / law enforcement
Legal profession
Socialogists and social workers
Psychiatrists and Counsellors
Ambulance and Emergency Department Hospital Staff
Philosophers
Humanists
Theologians / Clergy
Politicians
Educationalists (including driving instructors)
Scientific Rationalists including some:
Physicists
Engineers
Artificial Intelligence Developers
Reasonable man / average citizen jurist - if there is such a person.
A useful measure of wisdom has been obtained when you understand each of those different viewpoints, why they are different, and the extent to which they can and can't be reconciled.