Wholesome Knowledge: Concepts of Wisdom in a Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective

Abstract

Over the last decade, the focus of interest in developmental and life-span psychology has been extended from early infancy to later phases of life. This reorientaion has aroused renewed interest in cultural concepts of wisdom, which — it is hoped — may yield specific information concerning the cognitive and emotional potentials inherent in late adulthood. As wisdom is a value term embedded in cultural context, its content is highly variable. It ranges from pragmatic clues for problem solving and hints for social integration to ways toward cosmic 188 adaptation and religious salvation. Wisdom is as historically various as it is polymorphous: Seven historical phases are briefly sketched and four aspects or “faces” of wisdom are outlined. Such effort at differentiation can hardly do justice to the complexity of the term but it may dispel the notion that wisdom can be treated as a continuous or unified concept. The last part brings the discussion back to some of the poignant questions of life-span research. Wisdom is habitually associated with age for two reasons: (a) its proximity to death, and (b) its capacity for retrospective evaluation of events. Wise judgments seem to be built on intuitions of order and balance. They are called “wise” when they transcend the rigid systems of social or moral norms and activate a more inclusive knowledge of man or women in the world, be it engendered in the body or the soul.

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