Gender and Wisdom: The Roles of Compassion and Moral Development

Abstract

Theories of both wisdom and moral development have been divided between rationalist or cognitivist approaches and broader gauged ones that include affect, motivation, and intuition, as well as rational thinking. For example, Gilligan (1982) Gilligan, C. 1982. In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] criticized Kohlberg's (1973) Kohlberg, L. 1973. “Continuities and discontinuities in childhood and adult moral development revisited”. In Lifespan developmental psychology, Edited by: Baltes, P. and Schaie, K.W. 179–204. New York: Academic Press. [Google Scholar] theory of moral development on the grounds that it is gender biased, privileging “masculine” reasoning based on principles over “feminine” reasoning based on relations. A similar conflict has arisen in wisdom theory and research with Baltes and Smith (1990) Baltes, P. B. and Smith, J. 1990. “Toward a psychology of wisdom and its ontogenesis”. In Wisdom: Its nature, origins, and development, Edited by: Sternberg, R. 87–120. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] taking a cognitivist position criticized as limited by inattention to the affective domain (Labouvie-Vief, 1990 Labouvie-Vief, G. 1990. “Wisdom as integrated thought: Historical and developmental perspectives”. In Wisdom: Its nature, origins, and development, Edited by: Sternberg, R. 52–86. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). This conflict is unnecessary. More recent approaches have argued that wisdom is a synthesis of knowledge and character (Kunzmann & Baltes, 2005 Kunzmann, U. and Baltes, P. B. 2005. “The psychology of wisdom: Theoretical and empirical challenges”. In A handbook of wisdom, Edited by: Sternberg, F. J. and Jordan, J. 110–138. Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Using the construct of compassion as a vehicle for the integration of wisdom and ethics obviates any gender-related differences in wisdom.

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