Wisdom: Some Philosophical Answers

[jason_m]

In an attempt to be 'wise,' I thought of answers to the following questions:

What is the best thing that could happen to someone?

My first conclusion was that someone simply experiences general good fortune. However, I would now say that all of a person's dreams come true.

What is the worst thing that could happen to someone?

All of one's worst nightmares come true; akin to my answer to the first question.

What is justice?

I think it is when someone does/experiences something right/wrong, and the favour is returned to them in a way that is 100% equivalent. It is therefore not something akin to 'karma,' as that invokes reincarnation. The rights and/or wrongs should be in this life. (Maybe exceptions could be made for people who are devout Buddhists, Hindus, etc.)

What is poetic justice?

I think it is when the unjust do something just to right a huge wrong, or when the just do something mildly unjust to right an even bigger wrong.

What is the best thing that could happen to two friends?

I was going to say that they part on good terms, but the answer for me is that they are happy together forever.

What is true evil?

I think it is when people commit acts that are truly vile without any real rhyme or reason, or maybe for purely selfish reasons.

The movie "Seven" or Gertrude Baniszewski would be good examples.

What is the best thing that could happen between two enemies?

They resolve their issues and see common ground.


What are your answers?

[Veritas Aequitas]

Instead of to examples which could be infinite, why not just discuss 'wisdom' as a universal principle that is applicable to infinite examples which will include all the examples in the OP.

Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.[1]
Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, self-transcendence and non-attachment,[2] and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.

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."[8]
Charles Haddon Spurgeon defined wisdom as "the right use of knowledge".[9]
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,[3] with major advances made in the last two decades with respect to operationalization[2] and measurement[7] 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.[10]

The central essence of 'wisdom' is morality, i.e. doing 'good' and avoiding 'evil'.

The ultimate of 'wisdom' is directed at the overall net positive well being of the individual[s] and thus to humanity.