A New Theory of Wisdom: Integrating Intelligence and Morality

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept of wisdom, which integrates intelligence and morality as its two constituent elements. According to our definition, wisdom is a mental capacity of combining intelligence with moral virtue in the process of gaining knowledge and acting. Possessing this integrated quality, an individual would be able to act wisely when faced with complex situations. On the one hand, moral virtue provides one with the motivation to do well. It is the very source of autonomously keeping his own action in conformity with the moral standards. On the other hand, equipped with the mental capacity of intelligence, the agent is able to arrive at correct judgments about the complex problem he/she is facing and comes up effectively and efficiently with a solution to it. The integrated quality of having intelligence and moral virtues guarantees that the proposed solution and the corresponding act will benefit the well-being of the individual herself/himself and others. In accordance with the two-element definition of wisdom, we classify wisdom into moral wisdom and natural wisdom, which will be elaborated in this paper.

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