Wisdom

Emily, Stephen, and William

Confucius is Chinese philosopher born in 551 B.C. and is known for his widely studied philosophy, “Confucianism.” He is definitely one of the most prominent teachers in Chinese history. One of his most famous quotes, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Begins to explain how Confucius thinks we should learn wisdom. Each type of learning is important if you really want to expand your mind and become a master in wisdom. 

Socrates was a philosopher, scholar, and teacher from Ancient Greece. His legacy and teachings lived on longer than most other philosophers. He was very polite, but he didn’t fit in. Wisdom as defined by the dictionary is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement. Socrates once said “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” Socratic wisdom seems to center around modesty in one’s knowledge, keeping an open mind and being kind to others no matter the circumstance. Wisdom is not about who has read the most books or studied the most teachings – it’s about the willingness to always learn more and how to conduct yourself. Socrates was an idealist thinker, meaning he believed that human ideas, beliefs, and values shape society.

Wisdom as it pertains to philosophy has the ability to a variety of meanings and almost every philosopher has coined a different view of the word. The word wisdom can be easily defined as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. However, wisdom can mean something or be understood differently by different people. Today I will be looking at wisdom from the view of Aristotle. Most philosophers can agree that most theories of wisdom require a wise person to have some sort of knowledge. Disagreements start to occur when discussing what it is that the wise person should know and if there is an action required for wisdom on the whole.

Quiz:

1: What is the noblest form of learning wisdom?

2: How did Socrates die?

3: What were the two types of wisdom recognized by Aristotle? 

     a. Theoretical and understood 
     b. Knowledge and practical 
     c. Theoretical and Practical

Discussion Questions:

1: Do you agree with Confucius that the easiest form of learning wisdom is imitation? Why?

2: Do you think that true wisdom can be learned from teachings?

3: What are some of the views and beliefs that yall have of wisdom, what do you think of?