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Single Idea 11228

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / A. Wisdom / 1. Nature of Wisdom ]

Full Idea

Aristotle characterises wisdom as a search for explanations (aitiai, which can also be translated as 'causes') and explanatory knowledge (epistemé, knowledge why something is as it is).

Gist of Idea

Wisdom seeks explanations, causes, and reasons why things are as they are

Source

report of Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], Bk 01.2) by Vassilis Politis - Aristotle and the Metaphysics 1.1

Book Ref

Politis,Vasilis: 'Aristotle and the Metaphysics' [Routledge 2004], p.4

A Reaction

I think this idea might be a key one for modern philosophers, if they are searching for a metaphysics which can be integrated with modern science.

The 37 ideas with the same theme [defining and explaining the nature of true wisdom]:

5896 Speak the truth, for this alone deifies man [Pythagoras, by Porphyry]
7990 Serene wisdom is freedom from ties, and indifference to fortune [Anon (Bhag)]
13786 Wisdom is called 'beautiful', because it performs fine works [Plato]
1922 Spiritual qualities only become advantageous with the growth of wisdom [Plato]
354 Wisdom makes virtue and true goodness possible [Plato]
14179 The finest branch of wisdom is justice and moderation in ordering states and families [Plato]
23890 For Plato true wisdom is supernatural [Plato, by Weil]
78 Wisdom is scientific and intuitive knowledge of what is by nature most precious [Aristotle]
5248 Wisdom does not study happiness, because it is not concerned with processes [Aristotle]
548 Knowledge chosen for its own sake, rather than for results, is wisdom [Aristotle]
11228 Wisdom seeks explanations, causes, and reasons why things are as they are [Aristotle, by Politis]
19693 There is practical wisdom (for action), and theoretical wisdom (for deep understanding) [Aristotle, by Whitcomb]
7278 Words of wisdom are precise and clear [Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)]
9199 Wisdom for one instant is as good as wisdom for eternity [Chrysippus]
21405 Cicero sees wisdom in terms of knowledge, but earlier Stoics saw it as moral [Cicero, by Long]
13310 Wisdom does not lie in books, and unread people can also become wise [Seneca]
7911 Theory vanishes when one has obtained wisdom [Rahulabhadra]
21875 The wisdom of a free man is a meditation on life, not on death [Spinoza]
17230 If we are not wholly wise, we should live by good rules and maxims [Spinoza]
19396 Wisdom is knowing all of the sciences, and their application [Leibniz]
19336 Wisdom involves the desire to achieve perfection [Leibniz]
12926 Wisdom is the science of happiness [Leibniz]
5540 Cleverness is shown in knowing what can reasonably be asked [Kant]
21422 Moral self-knowledge is the beginning of all human wisdom [Kant]
6200 Wisdom is knowing the highest good, and conforming the will to it [Kant]
21979 Wisdom emerges at the end of a process [Hegel]
14857 The highest wisdom has the guise of simplicity [Nietzsche]
14888 Wisdom prevents us from being ruled by the moment [Nietzsche]
22659 It is wisdom to believe what you desire, because belief is needed to achieve it [James]
21584 A sense of timelessness is essential to wisdom [Russell]
22496 Wisdom only implies the knowledge achievable in any normal lifetime [Foot]
22396 We take courage, temperance, wisdom and justice as moral, but Aristotle takes wisdom as intellectual [Foot]
7623 For ancient Greeks being wise was an ethical value [Putnam]
23948 Wisdom needs both thought and passion, with each reflecting on the other [Solomon]
5333 Philosophy needs wisdom about who we are, as well as how we ought to be [Flanagan]
19735 Wisdom has a higher value than understanding, which has a higher value than knowledge [Greco]
20186 Unlike knowledge, wisdom cannot be misused [Zagzebski]