Philosophers have defined wisdom in different ways. Most definitions refer to knowledge, but they do not agree that knowledge includes or is limited to both theoretical and practical knowledge. The definition of wisdom to understanding or to justified beliefs instead of justified true belief that is knowledge is another difference. In addition to all this, the definition of wisdom to virtue, due to its variety and complexity, is another thing that makes the definition of wisdom more difficult. Linking the discussion of wisdom with the characteristics of the sage in contemporary philosophical literature due to the various debates that have been made about the necessity of each of the components of knowledge and action further obscures the exact meaning of wisdom. While analyzing the various definitions offered by contemporary analytical philosophers on the nature of wisdom, the present article explains the relationship between wisdom and knowledge; knowledge as a necessary and sufficient condition for wisdom, a necessary but not sufficient condition, and neither necessary nor sufficient condition. Then, wisdom is considered an intellectual or epistemic virtue and a necessary condition for acquiring knowledge. After evaluation, it shows that although among the proposed states, the first state with special conditions can better express the definition of wisdom than the others, wisdom has a meaning beyond propositional knowledge. Finally, it emphasizes the importance and necessity of a more accurate explanation of this phenomenon.
Al-Shīrāzī, Muḥammad (Mullā Ṣadrā). (1382SH/2003) Al-Shawāhid al-rubūbiyya fī minhāj al-sulūkīyya (Divine observances in the course of way-faring). Ed. Jalāl al-Dīn Āshtīānī. Mashhad: Markaz-i Nashr-i Dāneshgāhī.
---------------------------------------------. (1981). Al-Hikmat al-mutaʿālīa fī l-asfār al-ʿaqliyyat al-ʿarbaʿa, (the transcendent theosophy in the four journeys of the intellect) 9 vol.. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. 2nd ed.
Aristotle, (2009).The Nicomachean Ethics. Tr. by David Ross. Revised with an Introduction and notes by Lesley Brown. Oxford World’s Classics.
Baehr , J. (2014). Sophia, Theoretical Wisdom and Contemporary Epistemology. in, Kevin Timpe and C. Boyd (eds.). Virtues and Vices . New York : Oxford University Press. Pp.303-25.
________, (2011), Inquiring mind: On Intellectual Virtues and Virtue Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
________, (2012). Two Types of Wisdom. Acta Analytica , 27:81–97
Fileva I. and Tresan J. (2013). Wisdom Beyond Rationality: A Reply to Ryan, Acta Analytica. 28: 229-235.
Garrett, R. ( 1996). Three Definitions of Wisdom, in K. Lehrer et al. (eds.), Knowledge, Teaching and Wisdom, Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 221-232.
Greco ,J. (2011). Episteme: knowledge and Understanding , in Timpe K. and Boyd Craig A. (eds.). Intellectual virtue: Virtues and their Vices. Oxford: Oxford university press, pp.285-303.
________, (2010). Achieving Knowledge: A Virtue-Theoretic Account of Epistemic Normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grimm, Stephen, R., (2015).Wisdom , Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 93(1), 139-154.
_____________, (2011). Understanding. In Berneker S. and Pritchard D.(eds.). the Routledge Companion to Epistemology,. New York: Routledge, pp. 84-94.
Gugerell Stefan H.& Riffert F. (2012). On Defining “Wisdom”: Baltes, Ardelt, Ryan, and Whitehead , Interchange, 42(3), 225–259.
Khazaei, Z. (2018). Epistemic Virtue in the Midst of Reliable Faculty and Character Trait: A Comparative Approach. Philosophy and Kalam. 51(1), 25-41.
Khazaei, Z. (2017).Virtue Epistemology, Tehran: Samt Publication, 2nd ed.
Plato, Symposiom,
Sosa, E. (2007). A Virtue Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ryan, Sh. (2012). Wisdom, Knowledge and Rationality. Acta Analytica, 27(2): 99–112
_______, (2013), Wisdom, in Zalta(ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wisdom/#Bib
_______, (1996). Wisdom, in Lehrer et al., Knowledge, teaching and wisdom. pp. 233–242.
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad Naṣīr al-Dīn. (1356SH/1997).Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī (Nasirian ethics). Eds. Mujtabā Mīnūī & ʿAlīreḍā Ḥaīderī. Tehran: Khwārazmī Publications.
B. Miskawaīh. Tahdhīb al-akhlāq fī taṭhīr al-aʿrāq. Introd. Ḥussein Tamīm. Isfahan: Mahdavī Publications. N.d.
Walker, Matthew D. (2013). Rehabilitating Theoretical Wisdom. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 10( 763–787).
Withcomb, D. (2011), Wisdom, in Berneker S. and Pritchard D.(eds.). The Routledge Companion to Epistemology,. New York: Routledge. Pp. 95-106.
Zagzebeski, L.(2001).“Recovering Understanding’, in Matthias Steup (ed.), Knowledge, Truth and Duty, pp.235-251.
__________. (1996). Virtues of the mind. An Inquiry in to the Nature of Virtue and the Ethical Foundation of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Philosophical Thought