In a society, High culture is the subculture that encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as being exemplary works of art, and the intellectual works of literature and music, history and philosophy, which a society consider representative of their culture.
Definition
In popular usage, the term high culture identifies the culture either of the upper class (an aristocracy) or of a status class (the intelligentsia);
high culture also identifies a society’s common repository of
broad-range knowledge and tradition (folk culture) that transcends the
social-class system of the society. Sociologically, the term high culture is contrasted with the term low culture, which comprises the forms of popular culture characteristic of the less-educated social classes, such as the barbarians, the Philistines, and hoi polloi (the masses).
In European history, high culture was understood as a cultural
concept common to the humanities, until the mid-19th century, when Matthew Arnold introduced the term high culture in the book Culture and Anarchy (1869). The Preface defines culture
as "the disinterested endeavour after man’s perfection" pursued,
obtained, and achieved by effort to "know the best that has been said
and thought in the world". Such a literary definition of high culture also includes philosophy.
Moreover, the philosophy of aesthetics proposed in high culture is a
force for moral and political good. Critically, the term "high culture"
is contrasted with the terms "popular culture" and "mass culture".
In Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1948), T. S. Eliot said that high culture and popular culture are necessary and complementary parts of the culture of a society. In The Uses of Literacy (1957), Richard Hoggart
presents the sociologic experience of the working-class man and woman
in acquiring the cultural literacy, at university, which facilitates
social upward mobility. In the U.S., Harold Bloom and F. R. Leavis pursued the definition of high culture, by way of the Western canon of literature.
Media theorist Steven Johnson
writes that, unlike popular culture, "the classics—and soon to be
classics—are in their own right descriptions and explanations of the
cultural systems that produced them." He says that "a crucial way in
which mass culture differs from high art" is that individual works of
mass culture are less interesting than the broader cultural trends which
produced them.
The high culture of the West originated in the classical-world traditions of intellectual and aesthetic life in Ancient Greece (from c. 8th century BC – AD 147) and Ancient Rome (753 BC – AD 476). In the classical Greco-Roman
tradition, the ideal mode of language was published and preserved in
works of elevated style (correct grammar, syntax, and diction). Certain
forms of language used by authors in valorized epochs were held up in
antiquity and the Renaissance as eternal valid models and normative standards of excellence; e.g. the Attic dialect
of ancient Greek spoken and written by the playwrights and philosophers
of Periclean Athens (fifth century BC); and the form of classical Latin
used in the "Golden Age" of Roman culture (c. 70 B.C. – AD 18)
represented by such figures as Cicero and Virgil. This form of education was known to the Greeks as παιδεία, which was translated by the Romans into Latin as humanitas since it reflected a form of education aiming at the refinement of
human nature, rather than the acquisition of technical or vocational
skills. Indeed, the Greco-Roman world tended to see such manual,
commercial, and technical labor as subordinate to purely intellectual
activities.
From the idea of the "free" man with sufficient leisure to pursue
such intellectual and aesthetic refinement, arose the classical
distinction between the "liberal" arts which are intellectual and done
for their own sake, as against the "servile" or "mechanical" arts which
were associated with manual labor and done to earn a living.[9]
This implied an association between high culture and the upper classes
whose inherited wealth provided such time for intellectual cultivation.
The leisured gentleman not weighed down by the necessity of earning a
living, was free to devote himself to activities proper to such a "free
man"[10] – those deemed to involve true excellence and nobility as opposed to mere utility.
During the Renaissance, the classical intellectual values of the
fully rediscovered Græco–Roman culture were the cultural capital of the
upper classes (and the aspiring), and aimed at the complete development
of human intellectual, aesthetic, and moral faculties. This ideal
associated with humanism (a later term derived from the humanities or studia humanitatis), was communicated in Renaissance Italy through institutions such as the Renaissance court schools. Renaissance humanism
soon spread through Europe becoming much of the basis of upper class
education for centuries. For the socially ambitious man and woman who
means to rise in society, The Book of the Courtier (1528), by Baldasare Castiglione,
instructs the reader to acquire and possess knowledge of the
Græco–Roman Classics, being education integral to the social-persona of
the aristocrat.
A key contribution of the Renaissance was the elevation of painting and
sculpture to a status equal to the liberal arts (hence the visual arts
lost for elites any lingering negative association with manual
artisanship.) The early Renaissance treatises of Leon Battista Alberti were instrumental in this regard.
The evolution of the concept of high culture initially was
defined in educational terms largely as critical study and knowledge of
the Græco–Roman arts and humanities which furnished much of the foundation for European cultures
and societies. However, aristocratic patronage through most of the
modern era was also pivotal to the support and creation of new works of
high culture across the range of arts, music, and literature. The
subsequent prodigious development of the modern European languages and
cultures meant that the modern definition of the term "high culture"
embraces not only Greek and Latin texts, but a much broader canon of
select literary, philosophical, historical, and scientific books in both
ancient and modern languages. Of comparable importance are those works
of art and music considered to be of the highest excellence and broadest
influence (e.g. the Parthenon, the painting and sculpture of Michelangelo, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach,
etc). Together these texts and art works constitute the exemplary
artifacts representing the high culture of the Western world.
Cultural traditions
In
the Western and some East Asian traditions, art that demonstrates the
imagination of the artist is accorded the status of high art. In the
West this tradition began in Ancient Greece, was reinforced in the Renaissance, and by Romanticism, which eliminated the hierarchy of genres within the fine arts, which was established in the Renaissance. In China there was a distinction between the literati painting by the scholar-officials and the work produced by common artists, working in largely different styles, or the decorative arts such as Chinese porcelain,
which were produced by unknown craftsmen working in large factories. In
both China and the West the distinction was especially clear in landscape painting, where for centuries imaginary views, produced from the imagination of the artist, were considered superior works.
Cultural capital
Four English lords on ship during their Grand Tour, 1731–32
In socially-stratified Europe and the Americas, a first-hand immersion to the high culture of the West, the Grand Tour of Europe, was a rite of passage that complemented and completed the book education of a gentleman,
from the nobility, the aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie, with a worldly
perspective of society and civilisation. The post-university tour of
the cultural centres of Europe was a social-class benefit of the cultural capital
transmitted through the high-status institutions (schools, academies,
universities) meant to produce the ideal gentleman of that society.
The European concept of high culture included cultivation of
refined etiquette and manners; the education of taste in the fine arts
such as sculpture and painting; an appreciation of classical music and
opera in its diverse history and myriad forms; knowledge of the humane
letters (literae humaniores) represented by the best Greek and Latin
authors, and more broadly of the liberal arts traditions (e.g.
philosophy, history, drama, rhetoric, and poetry) of Western
civilisation, as well as a general acquaintance with important concepts
in theology, science, and political thought.
Much of high culture consists of the appreciation of what is
sometimes called "high art". This term is rather broader than Arnold's
definition and besides literature includes music, visual arts (especially painting), and traditional forms of the performing arts (including some cinema). The decorative arts would not generally be considered high art.
The cultural products most often regarded as forming part of high
culture are most likely to have been produced during periods of high civilization, for which a large, sophisticated,
and wealthy urban-based society provides a coherent and conscious
aesthetic framework, and a large-scale milieu of training, and, for the
visual arts, sourcing materials and financing work. Such an environment
enables artists, as near as possible, to realize their creative
potential with as few as possible practical and technical constraints,
though many more could be found on the cultural and economic side.
Although the Western concept of high culture naturally concentrates on
the Greco-Roman tradition, and its resumption from the Renaissance onwards, such conditions existed in other places at other times.
Art music (or serious music, classical music, cultivated music, canonical music or erudite music) is an umbrella term
used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and
theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition. The notion of art music is a frequent and well-defined musicological distinction – musicologist Philip Tagg,
for example, refers to art music as one of an "axiomatic triangle
consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics". He explains that each
of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain
criteria, with high cultural music often performed to an audience whilst
folk music would traditionally be more participatory, high culture
music is small scale and performed at the local level rather than as a
mass produced pop music,
it is stored in written form rather than non-written, it's often made
for a diverse group of people as opposed to a heterogeneous
socioculturally audience, non-industrious high art music spreads in many
locales rather than pop music which is possible in industrious
economies only, it's made not to compete in the free market place of
music. In this regard, "art music" frequently occurs as a contrasting term to "popular music" and to "traditional" or "folk music".
Art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass marketaudience. Film critics and film studies
scholars typically define an "art film" using a "...canon of films and
those formal qualities that mark them as different from mainstream
Hollywood films", which includes, among other elements: a social realism
style; an emphasis on the authorial expressivity of the director or
writer; and a focus on the thoughts and dreams of characters, rather
than presenting a clear, goal-driven story. According to the film
scholar David Bordwell, "art cinema itself is a film genre, with its own distinct conventions."
Promotion
Dancers from the Ballet Rambert, under the auspices of CEMA, a government programme, perform Peter and The Wolf at an aircraft factory in the English Midlands during World War II.
The term has always been susceptible to attack for elitism,
and, in response, many proponents of the concept devoted great efforts
to promoting high culture among a wider public than the highly educated bourgeoisie whose natural territory it was supposed to be. There was a drive, beginning in the 19th century, to open museums and concert halls to give the general public access to high culture. Figures such as John Ruskin and Lord Reith of the BBC in Britain, Leon Trotsky and others in Communist Russia,
and many others in America and throughout the western world have worked
to widen the appeal of elements of high culture such as classical music, art by old masters and the literary classics.
With the widening of access to university education, the effort
spread there, and all aspects of high culture became the objects of
academic study, which with the exception of the classics had not often been the case until the late 19th century. University liberal arts
courses still play an important role in the promotion of the concept of
high culture, though often now avoiding the term itself.
Especially in Europe, governments have been prepared to subsidize high culture through the funding of museums, opera and ballet companies, orchestras, cinema, public broadcasting stations such as BBC Radio 3, ARTE, and in other ways. Organizations such as the Arts Council of Great Britain,
and in most European countries, whole ministries administer these
programs. This includes the subsidy of new works by composers, writers
and artists. There are also many private philanthropic sources of
funding, which are especially important in the US, where the federally
funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting also funds broadcasting. These may be seen as part of the broader concept of official culture, although often a mass audience is not the intended market.
For the Orientalist Ernest Renan and for the rationalist philosopher Ernest Gellner, high culture was conceptually integral to the politics and ideology of nationalism, as a requisite part of a healthy national identity. Gellner expanded the conceptual scope of the phrase in Nations and Nationalism (1983) stating that high art is "a literate, codified culture, which permits context-free communication" among cultures.
In Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (1979), the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
proposed that æsthetic taste (cultural judgement) is in large part
derived from social class. Social class establishes the definitions of
high art, e.g. in social etiquette, gastronomy, oenology, military service.
In such activities of aesthetic judgement, the ruling-class person uses
social codes unknown to middle-class and lower-class persons in the
pursuit and practice of activities of taste.
The intelligentsia is a status class
composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in
the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in
the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the intelligentsia consists of scholars, academics, teachers, journalists, and literary writers.
Conceptually, the intelligentsia status class arose in the late 18th century, during the Partitions of Poland (1772–1795). Etymologically, the 19th-century Polish intellectual Bronisław Trentowski coined the term inteligencja (intellectuals) to identify and describe the university-educated and professionally active social stratum of the patriotic bourgeoisie; men and women whose intellectualism would provide moral and political leadership to Poland in opposing the cultural hegemony of the Russian Empire.
In pre–Revolutionary (1917) Russia, the term intelligentsiya (Russian: интеллигенция) identified and described the status class of university-educated people whose cultural capital — schooling, education, and intellectual enlightenment
— allowed them to assume the moral initiative and the practical
leadership required in the national, regional, and local politics of
Russia.
In practice, the status and social function of the intelligentsia
varied by society; in eastern Europe, the intellectuals were at the
periphery of their societies, and thus were deprived of political
influence and access to the effective levers of political power and of
economic development. In western Europe the intellectuals were in the
mainstream of their societies, and thus exercised cultural and political
influence that granted access to the power of government office, such as the Bildungsbürgertum, the cultured bourgeoisie of Germany, and the professions in Great Britain.
Background
In a society, the intelligentsia is a status class of intellectuals
whose social functions, politics, and national interests are distinct
from the functions of government, commerce, and the military. In Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (1921), the political economist Max Weber applied the term intelligentsia
in chronological and geographical frames of reference, such as "this
Christian preoccupation with the formulation of dogmas was, in Antiquity, particularly influenced by the distinctive character of ‘intelligentsia’, which was the product of Greek education", thus the intelligentsia originated as a social class of educated people created for the greater benefit of society.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Polish word and the sociologic concept of the inteligencja became a European usage to describe the social class of men and women who are the intellectuals of the countries of central and of eastern Europe; in Poland, the critical thinkers educated at university, in Russia, the nihilists who opposed traditional values in the name of reason and progress. In the late 20th century, the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu
said that the intelligentsia has two types of workers; (i) intellectual
workers who create knowledge (practical and theoretic) and (ii)
intellectual workers who create cultural capital. Sociologically, the Polish inteligencja translates to the intellectuels in France and the Gebildete in Germany.
European history
The
philosopher Karol Libelt identified the social contradiction inherent
to the intelligentsia being politically progressive, whilst also willing
to work for the status quo of the State.
In Russia, the writer Pyotr Boborykin defined the intelligentsia as both the managers of a society, and as the creators of society's high culture.
The intelligentsia existed as a social stratum in European societies before the term inteligencja
was coined in 19th-century Poland, to identify the intellectual people
whose professions placed them outside the traditional workplaces and
labours of the town-and-country social classes (royalty, aristocracy,
bourgeoisie) of a monarchy; thus the inteligencja are a social class native to the city.
In their functions as a status class, the intellectuals realised the
cultural development of cities, the dissemination of printed knowledge
(literature, textbooks, newspapers), and the economic development of
housing for rent (the tenement house) for the teacher, the journalist, and the civil servant.
In On Love of the fatherland (1844), the Polish philosopher Karol Libelt used the term inteligencja, which was the status class, composed of scholars, teachers, lawyers, and engineers, et al.
as the educated people of society who provide the moral leadership
required to resolve the problems of society, hence the social function
of the intelligentsia is to "guide for the reason of their higher
enlightenment."
In the 1860s, the journalist Pyotr Boborykin popularised the term intelligentsiya
(интеллигенция) to identify and describe the Russian social stratum of
people educated at university who engage in the intellectual occupations
(law, medicine, engineering, the arts) who produce the culture and the dominant ideology by which society functions. According to the theory of Dr. Vitaly Tepikin, the sociological traits usual to the intelligentsia of a society are:
advanced-for-their-time moral ideals, moral sensitivity to the neighbour, tact and gentleness in expression;
productive mental work, and in continual self-education;
patriotism based on faith in the people, and inexhaustible, self-less love for the small and the big motherlands;
inherent creativity in every stratum of the intelligentsia, and a tendency to asceticism;
an independent personality who speaks freely;
a critical attitude towards the government, and public condemnation of injustice;
loyalty to principle by conscience, grace under pressure, and tendency to self-denial;
an ambiguous perception of reality, which leads to political fickleness that sometimes becomes conservatism;
a sense of resentment, because politics and policies went unrealised; and withdrawal from the public sphere to the in-group;
quarrels about art, ideas, and ideology, which divide the subgroups who compose the intelligentsia.
In The Rise of the Intelligentsia, 1750–1831 (2008) Maciej Janowski said that the Polish intelligentsia were the think tank
of the State, intellectual servants whose progressive social and
economic policies decreased the social backwardness (illiteracy) of the
Polish people, and also decreased Russian political repression in partitioned Poland.
In 1844 Poland, the term inteligencja, identifying the intellectuals of society, first was used by the philosopher Karol Libelt, which he described as a status class of people characterised by intellect and Polish nationalism;
qualities of mind, character, and spirit that made them natural leaders
of the modern Polish nation. That the intelligentsia were aware of
their social status and of their duties to society: Educating the youth
with the nationalist objective to restore the Republic of Poland;
preserving the Polish language; and love of the Fatherland.
Nonetheless, the writers Stanisław Brzozowski and Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński criticised Libelt's ideological and messianic representation of a Polish republic, because it originated from the social traditionalism and reactionary
conservatism that pervade the culture of Poland, and so impede
socio-economic progress. Consequent to the Imperial Prussian, Austrian,
Swedish and Russian Partitions of Poland, the imposition of Tsarist cultural hegemony caused many of the political and cultural élites to participate in the Great Emigration (1831–70).
Second World War
After the Invasion of Poland
(1 September 1939), by Nazi Germany and the Soviet union, in occupied
Poland each side proceeded to eliminate any possible resistance leader.
In their part of occupied Poland, the Nazis began the Second World War (1939–45) with the extermination of the Polish intelligentsia, by way of the military operations of the Special Prosecution Book-Poland, the German AB-Aktion in Poland, the Intelligenzaktion, and the Intelligenzaktion Pommern.
In their part of occupied Poland, the Soviet Union proceeded with the
extermination of the Polish intelligentsia with operations such as the Katyn massacre
(April-May 1940), during which university professors, physicians,
lawyers, engineers, teachers, military, policeman, writers and
journalists were murdered.
Russia
Imperial era
Vissarion Belinsky
The Russian intelligentsiya also was a mixture of messianism and intellectual élitism, which the philosopher Isaiah Berlin
described as follows: "The phenomenon, itself, with its historical and
literally revolutionary consequences, is, I suppose, the largest, single
Russian contribution to social change in the world. The concept of
intelligentsia must not be confused with the notion of intellectuals.
Its members thought of themselves as united, by something more than mere
interest in ideas; they conceived themselves as being a dedicated
order, almost a secular priesthood, devoted to the spreading of a
specific attitude to life."
The Idea of Progress, which originated in Western Europe during the Age of Enlightenment
in the 18th century, became the principal concern of the intelligentsia
by the mid-19th century; thus, progress social movements, such as the Narodniks, mostly consisted of intellectuals. The Russian philosopher Sergei Bulgakov said that the Russian intelligentsia was the creation of Peter,
that they were the "window to Europe through which the Western air
comes to us, vivifying and toxic at the same time." Moreover, Bulgakov
also said that the literary critic of Westernization, Vissarion Belinsky was the spiritual father of the Russian intelligentsia.
In 1860, there were 20,000 professionals in Russia and 85,000 by 1900.
Originally composed of educated nobles, the intelligentsia became dominated by raznochintsy
(classless people) after 1861. In 1833, 78.9 per cent of
secondary-school students were children of nobles and bureaucrats, by
1885 they were 49.1 per cent of such students. The proportion of
commoners increased from 19.0 to 43.8 per cent, and the remaining
percentage were the children of priests. In fear of an educated proletariat, Tsar Nicholas I
limited the number of university students to 3,000 per year, yet there
were 25,000 students, by 1894. Similarly the number of periodicals
increased from 15 in 1855 to 140 periodical publications in 1885. The "third element" were professionals hired by zemstva. By 1900, there were 47,000 of them, most were liberal radicals.
Although Tsar Peter the Great introduced the Idea of Progress to
Russia, by the 19th century, the Tsars did not recognize "progress" as a
legitimate aim of the state, to the degree that Nicholas II said "How
repulsive I find that word" and wished it removed from the Russian
language.
Bolshevik perspective
In Russia, the Bolsheviks did not consider the status class of the intelligentsiya to be a true social class, as defined in Marxist philosophy. In that time, the Bolsheviks used the Russian word prosloyka (stratum) to identify and define the intelligentsia as a separating layer without an inherent class character.
In the creation of post-monarchic Russia, Lenin was firmly
critical of the class character of the intelligentsia, commending the
growth of "the intellectual forces of the workers and the peasants" will
depose the "bourgeoisie and their accomplices, intelligents, lackeys of
capital who think that they are brain of the nation. In fact it is not
brain, but dung". (На деле это не мозг, а говно)
The Russian Revolution of 1917
divided the intelligentsia and the social classes of Tsarist Russia.
Some Russians emigrated, the political reactionaries joined the
right-wing White movement for counter-revolution, some became Bolsheviks, and some remained in Russia and participated in the political system of the USSR. In reorganizing Russian society, the Bolsheviks deemed non-Bolshevik intelligentsia class enemies and expelled them from society, by way of deportation on Philosophers' ships, forced labor in the gulag, and summary execution.
The members of the Tsarist-era intelligentsia who remained in Bolshevik
Russia (the USSR) were proletarianized. Although the Bolsheviks
recognized the managerial importance of the intelligentsia to the future
of Soviet Russia, the bourgeois origin of this stratum gave reason for
distrust of their ideological commitment to Marxist philosophy and
Bolshevik societal control.
In the late Soviet Union the term "intelligentsia" acquired a formal
definition of mental and cultural workers. There were subcategories of
"scientific-technical intelligentsia" (научно-техническая интеллигенция)
and "creative intelligentsia" (творческая интеллигенция).
Between 1917 and 1941, there was a massive increase in the number of engineering graduates: from 15,000 to over 250,000.
Post-Soviet period
In
the post-Soviet period, the members of the former Soviet intelligentsia
have displayed diverging attitudes towards the communist government.
While the older generation of intelligentsia has attempted to frame
themselves as victims, the younger generation, who were in their 30s
when the Soviet Union collapsed, has not allocated so much space for the
repressive experience in their self-narratives.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the popularity and influence of
the intelligentsia has significantly declined. Therefore, it is typical
for the post-Soviet intelligentsia to feel nostalgic for the last years of the Soviet Union (perestroika), which they often regard as the golden age of the intelligentsia.
Vladimir Putin has expressed his view on the social duty of intelligentsia in modern Russia.
We should all be aware of the fact that when revolutionary—not
evolutionary—changes come, things can get even worse. The intelligentsia
should be aware of this. And it is the intelligentsia specifically that
should keep this in mind and prevent society from radical steps and
revolutions of all kinds. We've had enough of it. We've seen so many
revolutions and wars. We need decades of calm and harmonious
development.
Mass intelligentsia
In the 20th century, from the status class term Intelligentsia, sociologists derived the term mass intelligentsia
to describe the populations of educated adults, with discretionary
income, who pursue intellectual interests by way of book clubs and
cultural associations, etc. That sociological term was made popular usage by the writer Melvyn Bragg,
who said that mass intelligentsia conceptually explains the popularity
of book clubs and literary festivals that otherwise would have been of
limited intellectual interests to most people from the middle class and
from the working class.
In the book Campus Power Struggle (1970), the sociologist Richard Flacks addressed the concept of mass intelligentsia:
What [Karl] Marx could not
anticipate . . . was that the anti-bourgeois intellectuals of his day
were the first representatives of what has become, in our time, a mass
intelligentsia, a group possessing many of the cultural and political
characteristics of a [social] class in Marx's sense. By intelligentsia I
mean those [people] engaged vocationally in the production,
distribution, interpretation, criticism, and inculcation of cultural
values.
The Oxford English Dictionary
defines wisdom as "Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to
life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends;
sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs: opp.
to folly;" also "Knowledge (esp. of a high or abstruse kind);
enlightenment, learning, erudition." Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as "the right use of knowledge". Robert I. Sutton and Andrew Hargadon
defined the "attitude of wisdom" as "acting with knowledge while
doubting what one knows". In social and psychological sciences, several
distinct approaches to wisdom exist, with major advances made in the last two decades with respect to operationalization and measurement
of wisdom as a psychological construct. Wisdom is the capacity to have
foreknowledge of something, to know the consequences (both positive and
negative) of all the available course of actions, and to yield or take
the options with the most advantage either for present or future
implication.
Mythological perspectives
The ancient Greeks considered wisdom to be an important virtue, personified as the goddessesMetis and Athena. Metis was the first wife of Zeus, who, according to Hesiod's Theogony,
had devoured her pregnant; Zeus earned the title of Mêtieta ("The Wise
Counselor") after that, as Metis was the embodiment of wisdom, and he
gave birth to Athena, who is said to have sprung from his head.Athena was portrayed as strong, fair, merciful, and chaste. Apollo was also considered a god of wisdom, designated as the conductor of the Muses (Musagetes), who were personifications of the sciences and of the inspired and poetic arts; According to Plato in his Cratylus, the name of Apollo could also mean "Ballon" (archer) and "Omopoulon"
(unifier of poles [divine and earthly]), since this god was responsible
for divine and true inspirations, thus considered an archer who was
always right in healing and oracles: "he is an ever-darting archer". Apollo was considered the god who prophesied through the priestesses (Pythia) in the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), where the aphorism "know thyself" (gnōthi seauton) was inscribed (part of the wisdom of the Delphic maxims). He was contrasted with Hermes, who was related to the sciences and technical wisdom, and, in the first centuries after Christ, was associated with Thoth in an Egyptian syncretism, under the name Hermes Trimegistus. Greek tradition recorded the earliest introducers of wisdom in the Seven Sages of Greece.
According to Plato and Xenophon, the Pythia of the Delphic Oracle answered the question "who is the wisest man in Greece?" by stating Socrates was the wisest. According to Plato's Apology, Socrates decided to investigate the people who might be considered wiser than him, concluding they lacked true knowledge:
[…] οὗτος μὲν οἴεταί τι εἰδέναι οὐκ
εἰδώς, ἐγὼ δέ, ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ οἶδα, οὐδὲ οἴομαι [I am wiser than this
man; for neither of us really knows anything fine and good, but this man
thinks he knows something when he does not, whereas I, as I do not know
anything, do not think I do either.]
The ancient Romans also valued wisdom which was personified in Minerva,
or Pallas. She also represents skillful knowledge and the virtues,
especially chastity. Her symbol was the owl which is still a popular
representation of wisdom, because it can see in darkness. She was said
to be born from Jupiter's forehead.
In Buddhist traditions, developing wisdom plays a central role
where comprehensive guidance on how to develop wisdom is provided. In the Inuit tradition, developing wisdom was one of the aims of teaching. An Inuit Elder
said that a person became wise when they could see what needed to be
done and did it successfully without being told what to do.
In many cultures, the name for third molars, which are the last
teeth to grow, is etymologically linked with wisdom, e.g., as in the
English wisdom tooth. It has its nickname originated from the classical tradition, which in the Hippocratic writings has already been called sóphronistér (in Greek, related to the meaning of moderation or teaching a lesson), and in Latindens sapientiae (wisdom tooth), since they appear at the age of maturity in late adolescence and early adulthood.
Educational perspectives
Truth and Wisdom assist History in writing by Jacob de Wit, 1754
Public schools in the US have an approach to character education. Eighteenth century thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin,
referred to this as training wisdom and virtue. Traditionally, schools
share the responsibility to build character and wisdom along with
parents and the community.
Nicholas Maxwell, a contemporary philosopher in the United Kingdom, advocates that academia ought to alter its focus from the acquisition of knowledge to seeking and promoting wisdom. This he defines as the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others. He teaches that new knowledge and technological know-how
increase our power to act. Without wisdom though, Maxwell claims this
new knowledge may cause human harm as well as human good. He argues that
the pursuit of knowledge is indeed valuable and good, but that it
should be considered apart of the broader task of improving wisdom.
Psychological perspectives
Psychologists have begun to gather data on commonly held beliefs or folk theories about wisdom.
Initial analyses indicate that although "there is an overlap of the
implicit theory of wisdom with intelligence, perceptiveness,
spirituality and shrewdness, it is evident that wisdom is an expertise
in dealing with difficult questions of life and adaptation to the
complex requirements."
Such implicit theories stand in contrast to the explicit theories
and empirical research on resulting psychological processes underlying
wisdom. Opinions on the exact psychological definitions of wisdom vary, but there is some consensus that critical to wisdom are certain meta-cognitive processes affording life reflection and judgment about critical life matters. These processes include recognizing the limits of one's own knowledge,
acknowledging uncertainty and change, attention to context and the
bigger picture, and integrating different perspectives of a situation.
Cognitive scientists suggest that wisdom requires coordinating such
reasoning processes, as they may provide insightful solutions for
managing one's life. Notably, such reasoning is both theoretically and empirically distinct from general intelligence. Robert Sternberg
has suggested that wisdom is not to be confused with general (fluid or
crystallized) intelligence. In line with this idea, researchers have
shown empirically that wise reasoning is distinct from IQ. Several more nuanced characterizations of wisdom are listed below.
Baltes and colleagues in Wisdom: its structure and function in regulating lifespan successful development
defined wisdom as "the ability to deal with the contradictions of a
specific situation and to assess the consequences of an action for
themselves and for others. It is achieved when in a concrete situation, a
balance between intrapersonal, inter- personal and institutional
interests can be prepared".
Balance itself appears to be a critical criterion of wisdom. Empirical
research started to provide support to this idea, showing that
wisdom-related reasoning is associated with achieving balance between
intrapersonal and interpersonal interests when facing personal life
challenges, and when setting goals for managing interpersonal conflicts.
Researchers in the field of positive psychology have defined wisdom as the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve well being." Under this definition, wisdom is further defined with the following facets:
Problem Solving with self-knowledge and sustainable actions.
Contextual sincerity to the circumstances with knowledge of its negative (or constraints) and positive aspects.
Value based consistent actions with knowledge of diversity in ethical opinions.
Empathy with oneself to understand one's own emotions
(or to be emotionally oriented), morals...etc. and others feelings
including the ability to see oneself as part of a larger whole.
This theoretical model has not been tested empirically, with an
exception of a broad link between wisdom-related reasoning and
well-being.
Grossmann and colleagues have synthesized prior psychological
literature, indicating that in the face of ill-defined life situations
wisdom involves certain cognitive processes affording unbiased, sound judgment:
(i) intellectual humility or recognition of limits of own knowledge;
(ii) appreciation of perspectives broader than the issue at hand; (iii)
sensitivity to the possibility of change in social relations; and (iv)
compromise or integration of different perspectives. Grossmann found that habitual speaking and thinking of oneself in the third person increases these characteristics, which means that such a habit makes a person wiser.
Importantly, Grossmann highlights the fundamental role of contextual
factors, including the role of culture, experiences, and social
situations for understanding, development, and propensity of showing
wisdom, with implications for training and educational practice.
This situated account of wisdom ushered a novel phase of wisdom
scholarship, using rigorous evidence-based methods to understand
contextual factors affording sound judgment. For instance, Grossmann and
Kross have identified a phenomenon they called "the Solomon's paradox" -
wiser reflections on other people's problems as compared to one's own.
It is named after King Solomon,
the third leader of the Jewish Kingdom, who has shown a great deal of
wisdom when making judgments about other people's dilemmas but lacked
insight when it came to important decisions in his own life.
Empirical scientists have also begun to focus on the role of emotions in wisdom.
Most researchers would agree that emotions and emotion regulation would
be key to effectively managing the kinds of complex and arousing
situations that would most call for wisdom. However, much empirical
research has focused on the cognitive or meta-cognitive aspects of
wisdom, assuming that an ability to reason through difficult situations
would be paramount. Thus, although emotions would likely play a role in
determining how wisdom plays out in real events and on reflecting on
past events, only recently has empirical evidence started to provide
robust evidence on how and when different emotions improve or harm a
person's ability to deal wisely with complex events. One notable finding
concerns the positive relationship between diversity of emotional
experience and wise reasoning, irrespective of emotional intensity.
Measuring wisdom
Measurement
of wisdom often depends on a researcher's theoretical position about
the nature of wisdom. A major distinction exists between viewing wisdom
as a stable personality trait or a context-bound process.
The former approach often capitalizes on single-shot questionnaires.
However, recent studies indicate that such single-shot questionnaires
produce biased responses, something that is antithetical to the wisdom construct
and neglects the notion that wisdom is best understood in the contexts
where it is most relevant, namely, in complex life challenges. In
contrast, the latter approach advocates for measuring wisdom-related
features of cognition, motivation, and emotion on the level of a
specific situation.
Use of such state-level measures provides less biased responses as well
as greater power in explaining meaningful psychological processes.
Furthermore, a focus on the level of the situation has allowed wisdom
researchers to develop a fuller understanding of the role of context
itself for producing wisdom. Specifically, studies have shown evidence of cross-cultural and within-cultural variability, and systematic variability in reasoning wisely across contexts and in daily life.
Many, but not all, studies find that adults' self-ratings of perspective and wisdom do not depend on age. This belief stands in contrast to the popular notion that wisdom increases with age.
The answer to the question of age–wisdom association depends on how one
defines wisdom and the methodological framework used to evaluate
theoretical claims. Most recent work suggests that the answer to this
question also depends on the degree of experience in a specific domain,
with some contexts favoring older adults, others favoring younger
adults, and some not differentiating age groups.
Notably, rigorous longitudinal work is necessary to fully unpack the
question of age–wisdom relationship, and such work is still outstanding,
with most studies relying on cross-sectional observations.
Sapience (latin), "sophia" (greek) is often defined as "transcendent wisdom", "ultimate reality", or the ultimate truth of things.
Sapiential perspective of wisdom is said to lie in the heart of every
religion, where it is often acquired through intuitive knowing. This type of wisdom is described as going beyond mere practical wisdom and includes self-knowledge, interconnectedness, conditioned origination of mind-states and other deeper understandings of subjective experience. This type of wisdom can also lead to the ability of an individual to act with appropriate judgment, a broad understanding of situations and greater appreciation/compassion towards other living beings.
The word sapience is derived from the Latinsapientia, meaning "wisdom".
The corresponding verb sapere has the original meaning of "to taste", hence "to perceive, to discern" and "to know"; its present participle sapiens was chosen by Carl Linnaeus for the Latin binomial for the human species, Homo sapiens.
In Mesopotamian religion and mythology, Enki,
also known as Ea, was the God of wisdom and intelligence. Divine Wisdom
allowed the provident designation of functions and the ordering of the
cosmos, and it was achieved by humans in following me-s (in Sumerian, order, rite, righteousness), restoring the balance. In addition to hymns to Enki or Ea dating from the third millennium BC., there is amongst the clay tablets of Abu Salabikh from 2600 BC, considered as being the oldest dated texts, an "Hymn to Shamash", in which it is recorded written:
Wide is the courtyard of Shamash night chamber, (just as wide is the womb of) a wise pregnant woman! Sin,
his warrior, wise one, heard of the offerings and came down to his
fiesta. He is the father of the nation and the father of intelligence
Sia represents the personification of perception and thoughtfulness in the traditional mythology adhered to in Ancient Egypt. Thoth, married to Maat (in ancient Egyptian, meaning order, righteousness, truth), was also important and regarded as a national introducer of wisdom.
Zoroastrianism
In the Avesta hymns traditionally attributed to Zoroaster, the Gathas, Ahura Mazda
means "Lord" (Ahura) and "Wisdom" (Mazda), and it is the central deity
who embodies goodness, being also called "Good Thought" (Vohu Manah). In Zoroastrianism in general, the order of the universe and morals is called Asha (in Avestan, truth, righteousness), which is determined by the designations of this omniscient Thought and also considered a deity emanating from Ahura (Amesha Spenta); it is related to another ahura deity, Spenta Mainyu (active Mentality). It says in Yazna 31:
To him shall the best befall, who,
as one that knows, speaks to me Right's truthful word of Welfare and of
Immortality; even the Dominion of Mazda which Good Thought shall
increase for him. About which he in the beginning thus thought, "let the
blessed realms be filled with Light", he it is that by his wisdom
created Right.
The word wisdom (חכם) is mentioned 222 times in the Hebrew Bible.
It was regarded as one of the highest virtues among the Israelites
along with kindness (חסד) and justice (צדק). Both the books of Proverbs and Psalms urge readers to obtain and to increase in wisdom.
In the Hebrew Bible, wisdom is represented by Solomon, who asks God for wisdom in 2 Chronicles 1:10. Much of the Book of Proverbs, which is filled with wise sayings, is attributed to Solomon. In Proverbs 9:10, the fear of the Lord is called the beginning of wisdom. In Proverbs 1:20,
there is also reference to wisdom personified in female form, "Wisdom
calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the marketplaces."
In Proverbs 8:22–31, this personified wisdom is described as being present with God before creation began and even taking part in creation itself.
The Talmud teaches that a wise person is a person who can foresee the future. Nolad is a Hebrew word for "future," but also the Hebrew word for birth,
so one rabbinic interpretation of the teaching is that a wise person is
one who can foresee the consequences of his/her choices (i.e. can "see
the future" that he/she "gives birth" to).
In Christian theology, "wisdom" (From Hebrew: חכמה transliteration: chokmâh pronounced: khok-maw', Greek: Sophia, Latin: Sapientia) describes an aspect of God, or the theological concept regarding the wisdom of God.
There is an oppositional element in Christian thought between secular wisdom and Godly wisdom. Paul the Apostle states that worldly wisdom thinks the claims of Christ to be foolishness. However, to those who are "on the path to salvation" Christ represents the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:17–31). Wisdom is considered one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit according to Anglican, Catholic, and Lutheran belief. 1 Corinthians 12:8–10 gives an alternate list of nine virtues, among which wisdom is one.
The book of Proverbs in the Old Testament of the Bible primarily
focuses on wisdom, and was primarily written by one of the wisest kings
according to Jewish history, King Solomon. Proverbs is found in the Old
Testament section of the Bible and gives direction on how to handle
various aspects of life; one's relationship with God, marriage, dealing
with finances, work, friendships and persevering in difficult situations
faced in life.
According to King Solomon, wisdom is gained from God, "For the Lord
gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" Proverbs
2:6. And through God's wise aide, one can have a better life: "He holds
success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is
blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of
his faithful ones" Proverbs 2:7-8. "Trust in the LORD with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to
him, and he will make your paths straight" Proverbs 3:5-6. Solomon
basically states that with the wisdom one receives from God, one will be
able to find success and happiness in life.
There are various verses in Proverbs that contain parallels of what God
loves, which is wise, and what God does not love, which is foolish. For
example, in the area of good and bad behaviour Proverbs states, "The
way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But He loves him who
pursues righteousness (Proverbs 15:9). In relation to fairness and
business it is stated that, "A false balance is an abomination to the
Lord, But a just weight is His delight" (Proverbs 11:1; cf. 20:10,23).
On the truth it is said, "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But
those who deal faithfully are His delight" (12:22; cf. 6:17,19). These
are a few examples of what, according to Solomon, are good and wise in
the eyes of God, or bad and foolish, and in doing these good and wise
things, one becomes closer to God by living in an honorable and kind
manner.
King Solomon continues his teachings of wisdom in the book of
Ecclesiastes, which is considered one of the most depressing books of
the Bible. Solomon discusses his exploration of the meaning of life and
fulfillment, as he speaks of life's pleasures, work, and materialism,
yet concludes that it is all meaningless. "'Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher [Solomon]. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is
meaningless'...For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, the more
knowledge, the more grief" (Ecclesiastes 1:2,18) Solomon concludes that
all life's pleasures and riches, and even wisdom, mean nothing if there
is no relationship with God.
The book of James, written by the apostle James, is said to be the New
Testament version of the book of Proverbs, in that it is another book
that discusses wisdom. It reiterates Proverbs message of wisdom coming
from God by stating, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,
who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given
to you." James 1:5. James also explains how wisdom helps one acquire
other forms of virtue, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first
of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy
and good fruit, impartial and sincere." James 3:17. In addition, through
wisdom for living James focuses on using this God-given wisdom to perform acts of service to the less fortunate.
Apart from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and James, other main books of
wisdom in the Bible are Job, Psalms, and 1 and 2 Corinthians, which
give lessons on gaining and using wisdom through difficult situations.
Developing wisdom is of central importance in Buddhist
traditions, where the ultimate aim is often presented as "seeing things
as they are" or as gaining a "penetrative understanding of all
phenomena", which in turn is described as ultimately leading to the
"complete freedom from suffering".
In Buddhism, developing wisdom is accomplished through an understanding
of what are known as the Four Noble Truths and by following the Noble
Eightfold Path. This path lists mindfulness as one of eight required components for cultivating wisdom.
Buddhist scriptures teach that a wise person is usually endowed
with good and maybe bodily conduct, and sometimes good verbal conduct,
and good mental conduct.(AN 3:2)
A wise person does actions that are unpleasant to do but give good
results, and doesn't do actions that are pleasant to do but give bad
results (AN 4:115). Wisdom is the antidote to the self-chosen poison of ignorance. The Buddha has much to say on the subject of wisdom including:
He who arbitrates a case by force does not thereby become just (established in Dhamma). But the wise man is he who carefully discriminates between right and wrong.
He who leads others by nonviolence, righteously and equitably, is indeed a guardian of justice, wise and righteous.
One is not wise merely because he talks much. But he who is calm, free from hatred and fear, is verily called a wise man.
By quietude alone one does not become a sage
(muni) if he is foolish and ignorant. But he who, as if holding a pair
of scales, takes the good and shuns the evil, is a wise man; he is
indeed a muni by that very reason. He who understands both good and evil
as they really are, is called a true sage.
To recover the original supreme wisdom of self-nature (Buddha-nature or Tathagata) covered by the self-imposed three dusty poisons (the kleshas:
greed, anger, ignorance) Buddha taught to his students the threefold
training by turning greed into generosity and discipline, anger into
kindness and meditation, ignorance into wisdom. As the Sixth Patriarch
of Chán Buddhism, Huineng,
said in his Platform Sutra, "Mind without dispute is self-nature
discipline, mind without disturbance is self-nature meditation, mind
without ignorance is self-nature wisdom." In Mahayana and esoteric Buddhist lineages, Mañjuśrī is considered as an embodiment of Buddha wisdom.
In Hinduism, wisdom is considered a state of mind and soul where a person achieves liberation.
The god of wisdom is Ganesha and the goddess of knowledge is Saraswati.
The Sanskrit verse to attain knowledge is:
असतो मा सद्गमय । Asatō mā sadgamaya
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय । tamasō mā jyōtirgamaya
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय । mr̥tyōrmā amr̥taṁ gamaya
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥ Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
- Br̥hadāraṇyakopaniṣat 1.3.28
Wisdom in Hinduism is knowing oneself as the truth, basis for the entire Creation, i.e., of Shristi. In other words, wisdom simply means a person with Self-awareness
as the one who witnesses the entire creation in all its facets and
forms. Further it means realization that an individual may, through
right conduct and right living, come to realize their true relationship
with the creation and the Paramatma.
The Islamic term for wisdom is hikmah. Prophets of Islam are believed by Muslims to possess high wisdom. The term occurs a number of times in the Quran, notably in Chapter 2:269, Chapter 22:46: as well as Chapter 6:151.
The Sufi philosopher Ibn Arabi considers al-Hakim ("The Wise") as one of the names of the Creator. Wisdom and truth, considered divine attributes, were concepts related and valued in the Islamic sciences and philosophy since their beginnings, and the first Arab philosopher, Al-Kindi says at the beginning of his book:
We must not be ashamed to admire
the truth or to acquire it, from wherever it comes. Even if it should
come from far-flung nations and foreign peoples, there is for the
student of truth nothing more important than the truth, nor is the truth
demeaned or diminished by the one who states or conveys it; no one is
demeaned by the truth, rather all are ennobled by it.
"Love of learning is akin to wisdom. To practice with vigor is akin
to humanity. To know to be shameful is akin to courage (zhi, ren, yong..
three of Mengzi's sprouts of virtue)."
Compare this with the Confucian classic Great Learning,
which begins with: "The Way of learning to be great consists in
manifesting the clear character, loving the people, and abiding in the
highest good." One can clearly see the correlation with the Roman virtue
prudence, especially if one interprets "clear character" as "clear conscience". (From Chan's Sources of Chinese Philosophy).
In Taoism, wisdom is construed as adherence to the Three Treasures (Taoism): charity, simplicity, and humility.[citation needed]
"He who knows other men is discerning [智]; he who knows himself is intelligent [明]." (知人者智，自知者明。Tao Te Ching 33).
In Chinese Buddhism, the idea of wisdom will however remain
closely linked to its Indian equivalent as it appears for instance in
certain conceptual continuities that exists between Asanga, Vasubandhu and Xuanzang.
Others
In Norse mythology, the god Odin
is especially known for his wisdom, often acquired through various
hardships and ordeals involving pain and self-sacrifice. In one instance
he plucked out an eye and offered it to Mímir, guardian of the well of knowledge and wisdom, in return for a drink from the well.
In another famous account, Odin hanged himself for nine nights from Yggdrasil, the World Tree that unites all the realms of existence, suffering from hunger and thirst and finally wounding himself with a spear until he gained the knowledge of runes for use in casting powerful magic. He was also able to acquire the mead of poetry from the giants, a drink of which could grant the power of a scholar or poet, for the benefit of gods and mortals alike.
In Baháʼí Faith
scripture, "The essence of wisdom is the fear of God, the dread of His
scourge and punishment, and the apprehension of His justice and decree." Wisdom is seen as a light, that casts away darkness, and "its dictates must be observed under all circumstances". One may obtain knowledge and wisdom through God, his Word, and his Divine Manifestation and the source of all learning is the knowledge of God.
In the Star Wars universe, wisdom is valued in the narrative of the films, in which George Lucas figured issues of spirituality and morals, recurrent in mythological and philosophical themes; one of his inspirations was Joseph Campbell's The Hero of a Thousand Faces. Master Yoda is generally considered a popular figure of wisdom, evoking the image of an "Oriental Monk", and he is frequently quoted, analogously to Chinese thinkers or Eastern sages in general. Psychologist D. W. Kreger's book "The Tao of Yoda" adapts the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching in relation to Yoda's thinking. Knowledge is canonically considered one of the pillars of the Jedi, which is also cited in the non-canon book The Jedi Path, and wisdom can serve as a tenet for Jediism. The Jedi Code also states: "Ignorance, yet knowledge." In a psychology populational study published by Grossmann and team in 2019, master Yoda is considered wiser than Spock, another fictional character (from the Star Trek series), due to his emodiversity trait, which was positively associated to wise reasoning in people:
"Yoda embraces his emotions and aims to achieve a balance between them.
Yoda is known to be emotionally expressive, to share a good joke with
others, but also to recognize sorrow and his past mistakes".
Wisdom is learning how to understand, who to be and how to live.
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