14 DAY TRIAL // There are numerous concepts, words and phrases we come across every day that have no clear-cut definitions. Notorious examples of this are words like “good,” “evil,” “beauty,” “ugliness” and so on. But there are also terms that have some sort of meaning in everyone's mind, but which still lack on official definition, if you will. The concept of wisdom is one of them, even if we generally tend to know a wise person from a reckless one. It's fairly safe to argue that this trait is different from intelligence and spirituality, but researchers say that this doesn't prevent it from being equally as hard to define. Now, a new effort is underway to find a suitable definition for the word, LiveScience reports.
“There are several major definitions of wisdom, but no single definition that is all-inclusive and embraces every important aspect of wisdom. Intelligence and spirituality share features with wisdom, but they are not the same thing. One can be intelligent, yet lack practical knowledge. Spirituality is often associated with age, like wisdom, but most researchers tend to define wisdom in secular terms, not spiritual,” explains University of California in San Diego (UCSD) psychiatry and neuroscience professor Dilip V. Jeste. He was a researcher on a new investigation, which sought to determine the main differences between wisdom and other similar traits.
This work was conducted in order to provide researchers with a few characteristics pertaining solely to this concept. The UCSD team questioned about 30 researchers who play an active role in searching for a definition of the concept. The research group learned that the vast majority of respondents agreed on certain aspects pertaining to wisdom. They say that the trait is uniquely human, as no animals in the wild have been shown to exhibit signs of wisdom. The experts also agree that it is experience-driven, meaning naturally that you get more as you get older. Scientists therefore perceive it as a form o advanced cognitive and emotional development, Jeste explains.
Wisdom is also considered to be a rather rare personal trait, although most agree that it can be learned, and maybe even measured. Lastly, the test respondents agreed that there is little people can do to enhance their wisdom, other than experiences. It was generally agreed upon that medication does not help in this regard. “One survey, of course, cannot fully and completely define wisdom. The value here is that there was considerable agreement among experts that wisdom is indeed a distinct entity with a number of characteristic qualities. The data from our research should help in designing future empirical studies on wisdom,” Jeste concludes.