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Wisdom

Introduction

A first approach to the definition of wisdom from a psychological perspective is its treatment in dictionaries. The major German historical dictionary, for instance, defined wisdom as ‘insight and knowledge about oneself and the world … and sound judgement in the case of difficult life problems’. Similarly, the Oxford Dictionary includes in its definition of wisdom: ‘Good judgement and advice in difficult and uncertain matters of life.’

In a next step, psychologists further specified the content and formal properties of wisdom-related phenomena. These initial efforts for the most part were theoretical and speculative. G. Stanley Hall in 1922, for example, associated wisdom with the emergence of a meditative attitude, philosophic calmness, impartiality, and the desire to draw moral lessons that emerge in later adulthood. Furthermore, writers emphasized that wisdom involves the search for the moderate course between extremes, a dynamic between knowledge and doubt, a sufficient detachment from the problem at hand, and a well-balanced coordination of emotion, motivation, and thought. In line with dictionary definitions, such writings refer to wisdom as knowledge about the human condition at its frontier, knowledge about the most difficult questions of the meaning and conduct of life, and knowledge about the uncertainties of life, about what cannot be known and how to deal with that limited knowledge (for an overview see Kramer, 2000; Staudinger, 1999; Sternberg, 1990).

Wisdom certainly is a phenomenon rich in history and connotations. Some even argue it is a phenomenon that defies empirical investigation. And certainly the application of scientific methods changes the phenomenon under study. Nevertheless, it seems useful to study and assess wisdom as it may help us to learn more about conditions that facilitate the development and well-balanced integration of human mind and character.

Some Historical Background to the Psychological Study of Wisdom

Since the beginning of human culture, wisdom has been viewed as the ideal endpoint of human development. Certainly, the psychological study of wisdom is still rather young compared to its philosophical treatment when considering that the very definition of philosophy is ‘love or pursuit of wisdom’. Important to recognize is that the identification of wisdom with individuals (such as wise persons), the predominant approach in psychology, is but one of the ways by which wisdom is instantiated. In fact, in the general historical literature on wisdom, the identification of wisdom with the mind and character of individuals is not the preferred mode of analysis. Wisdom is considered an ideal that is difficult to be fully represented in the isolated individual.

Throughout history, the interest in the topic of wisdom has waxed and waned (Baltes, in press). In the Western world, the question of whether wisdom is divine or human was at the centre of wisdom-related discourse during the Renaissance. An initial conclusion of this debate was reached during the later phases of the Enlightenment. Recently, in conjunction with value pluralism and the need for orientation characteristic of postmodern times, interest in the concept of wisdom has been revived. Finally, archeological-cultural work dealing with the origins of religious and secular bodies of wisdom-related texts in China, India, Egypt, Old Mesopotamia and the like has revealed a cultural and historical invariance with regard to wisdom-related proverbs and tales (Baltes, in press). This relative invariance gives rise to the assumption that concepts such as wisdom with its related body of knowledge and skills have been culturally selected because of their adaptive value for humankind.

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