Intelligence Versus Wisdom

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    Http://www.antiessays.com/free-essays/269828.html
    Any feelings on this subject no matter whether it be a quote original or not will be appreciated
    If you quote please give the author

  • Max
    12 years ago

    I believe a wise man is always intelligent but an intelligent man can't always be wise, the are like 2 faces for the same coin but if we have to compare them I think wisdom is the right way cause I believe wisdom is the mother and intelligence is the son.

  • Decayed
    12 years ago

    ^ Well-said, Max :D

  • Karla
    12 years ago

    In·tel·li·gence [in-tel-i-juhns] -noun
    1.capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.

    wis·dom [wiz-duhm]-noun
    1.the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.
    2.scholarly knowledge or learning

    So Wisdom is knowledge. You might be intelligent but that doesn't mean you are wise.You can be good at some things but would you know how to apply your knowledge correctly in some circumstances?In my opinion only a wise man/woman can.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    The Oracle at Delphi answered the question: "Who is the wisest man?"
    "Socrates"

    When told about the proclamation Socrates declared:
    "If I am wise it is because I know that I know nothing."

    Thus, wisdom appears to presuppose lack of knowledge.

    However, the Socratic Method of teaching is used to force a person into making intelligent application of his/her existing knowledge. It consists of questioning the answer, not in a mindless series of "why?" but rather in taking the answer given and assessing it for both internal inconsistency and conflict with seeming reality.
    So wisdom actually presupposes that knowledge is already present, but must be analyzed for Truth.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    Http://youtu.be/y7RIuukDINc
    Above All -- Kaitlyn Maher
    Thank you all
    I don't want to offend anyone by sharing my feelings about Faith Hope ,and Love
    I have a dog that thinks about affection she understands and knows how to get it
    Bear with me lol
    Knowledge, wisdom and understading are believed to be valued gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Faith I was raised in

    When I think of five year old Kaitlyn Maher's performance of Above All I think that there are many more experienced performers that could not move me as much as she did
    Knowledge is much more in a spiritual sense than capacity to store data I think many of us may agree

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    And therein is the wisdom

  • L
    12 years ago

    I agree wisdom.

    I have some questions, now that intelligence has been mentioned.

    What is the difference between being smart and intelligent?
    Is being smart a bit closer to being wise? Or not all?

    And what about being clever?

    Edit: I think I got to excited that i deviated from the topic..
    To me someone intelligent is someone who has the ability to learn fast. To absorb information. Mainly theory... But hasn't apply much of the information in the real world.

    Someone wise, in my opinion is someone who Always thinks about the right and wrong and how to come out with an output that will give the best result. I also think that someone wise is some who has learnt from his/her mistakes. Thus is knowledgable.

  • Colm
    12 years ago

    Wisdom is knowing how to use intelligence, or a lack of it.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    And what about being clever?
    I think clever folks run the risk of being seen as wise guys
    I once was trying to make the point that the traditional so called wise men were also called astrologers, Magi and Sometimes the three kings.
    I said many attempted to argue there was no evidence they were astrologers so I asked what would you call three men following a star to find an infant, prophesied to change the world, and a clever atheist replied " fools"

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Michael's link discusses multiple types of intelligence. This is not a new concept. In 1983 psychologist Howard Gardner published his "Frames of Mind" in which he identified seven types of intelligence:
    1. Linguistic.
    2. Logical-Mathematical.
    3. Bodily-Kinesthetic.
    4. Spatial.
    5. Musical.
    6. Interpersonal.
    7. Intrapersonal.

  • L
    12 years ago

    " I think clever folks run the risk of being seen as wise guys"

    ^In my opinion, a clever folk will have the intelligence to arrange the information according to their belief or to their advantage. They are clever after all which means they understand information so well. I think, the difference between a clever man and a wise man is the intention. A wise man like I think will focus on the greater good.. while a clever man might not always do so.

    Mr. Larry... this question might sound strange but out of the seven type of intelligence, which one/s do you believe a wise man posses?

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    If I could grade myself on Intrapersonal intelligence I would give me an E for effort . I am very interested in Interpersonal. Birds do two things better than me( Fly and sing) The evidence I have for spacial intellegence is no alien has tried to contact me. I can count on my fingers to be productive. I can count more so on a computer
    My first language is redneck

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    I think your distinction of intention for clever & wise is serviceable.

    Gardner thought that each intelligence was isolated from the others. That would mean that each would carry its own type of wisdom: the application of that intelligence to the realm in which it operates. A person with great knowledge in music could write decent compositions, like Solieri. True musical wisdom would be needed to write timeless compositions like Mozart's 40th Symphony.

    The wisdom we typically think of, I believe, would be a combination of 6 & 7, but you need 1 and possibly 2 in order to articulate it.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    When I first looked at #2 beancounters came to mind. As far as the common good in order to count beans an intelligent approach to growing and picking beans is needed. yet man does not live by beans alone

  • dan
    12 years ago

    If one can find his way to the store and back, he has intelligence. If he crosses a busy intersection on the way without being run over he has wisdom

  • Decayed
    12 years ago

    ^ I think you made this comparison so WIDER than it really is.

    Wisdom, as everyone described, is the peak of the intelligence pyramid. But that doesn't mean intelligence is primitive like knowing the way to a store and back.

    However, I do think that one doesn't need to be intelligent to be wise and doesn't need to be wise to be intelligent. Like old & grey people who passed through several experiences in life; they can be wise. But it's not obligatory they are intelligent.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Look back at the Socratic Method. The reason it works is that we all pick up knowledge just by our daily exposure. However, for many, that knowledge is not applied usefully. It may as well be trivia: spouted at odd moments to impress, but not gaining the speaker the effective benefit of having this knowledge. It is the effective application of this underlying experience to real word situations to achieve predetermined goals that is wisdom.

    When you speak of any old people not having knowledge, that is a mistake. The accumulation of knowledge over so many decades is inevitable, even for those who may never have attended school past a basic education. They have lived long enough to have discovered what works, even if only through the college of hard knocks.

    Another error easy to fall into is a matter of degree. You do not need to be Yoda to be wise. Ratso Rico (Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy") is iconic as the street-wise but otherwise ignorant manipulator. He's obviously out of his element when it comes to mixing with the nouveau riche but he knows enough to stay quiet, gathering knowledge which he will put to use.

  • Decayed
    12 years ago

    I was probably referring to illiterate old people, like my own grandparents. They aren't intelligent, however, if you hear their stories along their 70+ years, you will see the wisdom sprouting from their eyes. So basically, this knowledge you're talking about, Larry, is merely practical; theoretical knowledge/intelligence is invalid in such cases.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Not at all. You aggrandize literate knowledge. They probably have more real knowledge than you do. Yours simply is borrowed knowledge from the experiences of others. Theirs is fundamental first-hand knowledge earned by the years of their existence.

    Good Will Hunting: Robin Williams says it much better than me:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM-gZintWDc

    EDIT: The problem with the educational system is that it leads to too much trust in the knowledge acquired through recorded media, including books.

  • L
    12 years ago

    Abed, your grandparents have some type of intelligence.
    They have logic and are able to reason well... Leading them to knowledge. They have learnt from their experiences,
    Just as my grandma. If they didnt have logic they would probably be putting their fingers in fire because they didn't learn that fire burns.

    In my opinion, the example given by Dan shows wisdom. Except if the person who travelled that that intersection caused so many accidents then that was not wise, it was just a clever man who knew he way through.

    Thought, Mr Larry, I agree with your choices may be I also have my doubts on the linguistics... Will linguistic just be spoken and written? Or will it also include the sign language? Sorry for my ignorance.

    And also a wise man barely speaks...
    For instance my granma, when it comes to people critiquing other people, she remains quiet if she does speak she says "dont critique people."

    Some Wise people usually just listens and reply with a confusing or non confusing statement, that we eventually understand.
    So in this case, I can see how linguistics are needed.

    But I was thinking about those people who can't speak...
    Who are voiceless.

    EDIT: yup, I agree abed is more practical.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Linguistics is related to a brain function. Words, symbolism, written or spoken, or signed. The articulation of language is how it is done, but the intelligence is what lies behind the mechanics.

    Logical-mathematics of course deals with numbers, but it also deals with step-by-step reasoning to a solution.

    People often refer to the Left-brain math genius or the Right-brain artist. There is substantial support that each of these functions are localized. However, there is nothing that prevents the development of both sides of the brain. Look at Leonardo da Vinci: both a great artist and obsessed with the mathematical (and spatial) analysis of anatomy.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    "Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart; intelligence is not information alone but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used"
    - Dr. Carl Sagan
    I recall Dr Sagan saying their was nothing that a human could do that some animals could do to a lesser
    degree

    Scientists have been skeptical of claims of mathematical abilities in animals ever since the case of Clever Hans about 100 years ago
    1. Historians believe the Romans used the same artistic Numeral system you may see on a sun dial today and the Arabic numerals evolved from India around 500 CE
    2. I would have though the engineers that designed the pyramids would have already had an advanced numeral system and I have no idea how to do a relatively simple math problem with Roman numerals , but I am not assuming any culture was ignorant to problem solving

    Speaking of crossing the street, I have volunteered my time to carry disabled people around. When I go with one that uses a state funded transport my official title is escort. (I am not a man hoe ), but my client is allowed to go where she wants in a battery powered chair as long as there is someone coherent enough to punch in a code that opens the door to get out of the nursing home.

  • Decayed
    12 years ago

    True, Larry. That's why I elaborated on the 'practical' part of knowledge.

    * Luce, with theoretical intelligence, I wasn't just talking about this basic logic someone can build with time. I am looking high above. Intellect, art, etc...

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

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    I found a free E-book of Spirits Rebellious
    Kahlil Gibran 1908
    I have always been interested in the timeless wisdom many poets leave behind to balance Minds , Hearts, and Souls

  • L
    12 years ago

    Abed :P
    I realized that after I finished writing.

    So in other words..

    A wise man is a man who wasn't taught by books but by life and who had the intelligence to learn from the lessons.
    While an intelligent doesn't necessarily learns from them just gathers the information.

  • ddavidd
    12 years ago

    What about wisdom versus awareness
    could anybody elaborate about the differences in between intelligence and awareness or wisdom and awareness??

  • The Princess
    12 years ago

    Yet to check the link but on the topic I'd say intellegence is limited to certain facts that the intelligent person can conclude something of - but at the same time that concluded something is limited to these facts. In other words, they are not a standalone. Wisdom on the other hand is looking deeper behind these facts and concluding something that is a standalone. Mathematicians and sciententists, to me, would be intelligent. Philosophers would be wise.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    Author: real meaning

    What about wisdom versos awareness
    could anybody elaborate about the differences in between intelligence and awareness or wisdom and awareness??

    I always tend to be abstract in my view of awareness . If someone was to post a topic on the Islamic new year it is bound to inspire passion about the way we would like things to be, verses the way things are .Soon in many places in the world the Spirit of Christmas could distract some from the concrete benefits to commerce to the abstract notion that humans can get along

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    It appears Michael is OK with broadening the topic to awareness, so I'll jump back in.

    Years ago I read a book that became a touchstone in my personal development: Julian Jaynes' "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind."

    In it he posited that early man was not conscious in the manner we are. The difference is that we are conscious of our consciousness. We have the capacity to appreciate our awareness as an abstract.

    He suggested that most activity was done in somewhat of a left-brain animalistic state of habit, perhaps learned from the tribe. Occasionally the man/woman would be confronted with some new situation for which he/she was not prepared. In those instances the person would "hear a message" from the right-brain that commanded a reaction. The message was perceived as a voice, taken to be divine in origin, or at least with the weight of authority behind it, and obeyed implicitly.

    Man painted cave walls in mystic images, yet the consciousness of thought remained hidden. Then, once man began to write ciphers and symbols for purposes of communicating, the concept of consciousness began to develop. The bicameral brain became more unitized, more synthesized. Man learned to think about thinking.

    This book came out in the mid 70s and has since led to new understanding of auditory hallucinations. Discoveries in brain topology have given support to his theory.

    So, until man had the ability to communicate beyond the use of his own body, he did not have the capacity to be self-aware. Once that milestone occurred the realm of mind bloomed.

    I believe that Intelligence, Awareness & Wisdom are as intricately woven as a triple stranded molecule more intricate than DNA. The development of each in part depends on the others and at the same time enables the others.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    I think a many folks believe I am a hard core creationist , but I do not think I am. I had read somewhere that that ancient concept of the mind was no less abstract than that of the soul. I have always had trouble staying on topic and wanted to reach a new age question ;which came first intelligence or design . It was like an ape that decided one day to free its forelimbs to carry more food back to the nest and those apes survived by making fewer trips to hunt and gather . The spine became straighter and that adaptation was passed to the offspring I once entered a trance like state and it transformed me to better health. I never knew whether love found me or I found love , but I learned to love myself much more so that when I loved others as myself I also loved them more. I believe I became aware of a force like the elements within me and yet all around me.

  • Karla
    12 years ago

    Michael said:

    I learned to love myself much more so that when I loved others as myself I also loved them more. I believe I became aware of a force like the elements within me and yet all around me.

    Beautiful words my friend.

  • dan
    12 years ago

    The problem with education is that sometimes your head is packed so full of facts there's no room left for thinking.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Donald I agree.
    Bringing it back to the theme of the thread: education has been unable to cope with the explosion of data in virtually every field. As a result, the system focuses on cramming the students with knowledge (facts learned by rote memory). Wisdom takes longer, so that somewhere in the third or fourth year on the job, things begin to click & the diverse pieces of knowledge start clicking into place with each other.

    EDIT:
    I think of the ancient practice of teaching by discourse on theory. Can you imagine if we put out accountants and engineers who understand the theory of their fields but have no practical knowledge at all? Perhaps a certain degree of knowledge is necessary for true wisdom after all.

  • Decayed
    12 years ago

    I agree with dan also!

    In high school, 99% of our studying was theoretical.
    Let's see in university... I think that will decrease.

  • Larry Chamberlin
    12 years ago

    Abed,
    Are you sure you mean theoretical? Donald's argument was that education crams facts without wisdom. Theoretical is less reliant on facts.
    Do you mean irrelevant?

    Take philosophy in uni. The first course is designed to tear apart all that you think you know. Then they help you put it back together in upper level courses.

  • ddavidd
    12 years ago

    I think the intelligence is the information and the use of that information that registers in brain.
    I think wisdom is the result of that accumulation of information, that turns to the knowledge, and the use of that knowledge that evolves to, and yet happens in proses of transferring them to concepts, precepts, through constant zigzag seesaw of conclusion and induction.
    Wisdom in general is not the only mathematical accumulation of knowledge. ( even though any accumulation of knowledge is wisdom by itself) It is the result, the outcome, the syntheses of that accumulation.

    But awareness is the knowledge of existence and beyond. Awareness is the existence itself. All the sentient being are aware of themselves; even more all the beings are aware of themselves and surrounding in somehow otherwise they are dead. . But the awareness is climbing the ladder in sentient being to the human , it is painted by the colour amber. Even all the organs in the body are aware of themselves beyond the brain comprehension: heart, liver, kidneys, lungs....
    Even though birds or a wild animals or a plants do not comprehend the world in its conceptual conformity, but they are aware; they are aware of for example friendly gestures, affection, kindness etcetera.
    You could simplify these all to the exchange of information in subconscious of living things, but still it is hard to explain why trees reacts to the music, or why animal understand us beyond the function of their little peanut brains ~~or in case of vegetation's, no brain at all.~~
    Statistic proves that music, kind world, in regular bases, would increase the rate of health and growth in plants and animals.
    Native American seers they say the awareness is the force of existence that is shared by all the existing forms. They say the auras are more amber when the awareness is more intense, in sentient being and on top, human. The ladders goes up amongst human too.

  • Michael D Nalley
    12 years ago

    Many insects are attracted to light . Many insects will defend their offsprings to the death . I am impressed by a vine uniformly weaving itself through a chain link fence . Awareness increases with the complexity of any being, or so it seems

  • ddavidd
    12 years ago

    My gratitude for presenting more evidence. It means that we shed some light, because people always confuse these.

    Unfortunately poetical insects are not attracted to light. They crawl towards the sweet crumbs leftovers of fame and self gratification.

  • Decayed
    11 years ago

    Larry, I meant that we had 1% lab sessions... 'practical' work... so theoretical (theories/equations...) was massive.