Jay asked:

What is the difference between truth and wisdom?

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While truth simply stated means the conformity of a proposition to the way things are, wisdom is an
understanding of the highest principles of things as a guide for living a truly exemplary human life.
Wisdom then is good judgment with respect to abstract truth or theoretical matters and stands in
contrast to prudence in concrete, practical affairs. Here are some more differences: While truth is an
expression of mere facts, specifying what is in fact the case, a wise judgement involves not only facts,
but also the knowledge of the origin, meaning and goal of our lives. Truth is purposeless, while
wisdom always pursues an object. Truth is a quality and wisdom a virtue. Making truth claims
requires formal education, wisdom in addition requires living, making mistakes, and learning from
those mistakes.

There are many theories about the philosophical question "What is truth?" (for example the theory of
correspondence, the one of coherence, the pragmatic theory, ...), but interestingly the notion of
wisdom has remained unchanged since Aristotle introduced the distinction between theoretical
wisdom (sophia) and practical wisdom (phronesis). And finally, I think, modern science would be
better off chasing less after truth but more after wisdom.

Simone Klein

A very interesting question which seems ostensibly to require a straightforward answer from the
theory of knowledge. However, providing an answer is not as straightforward as it might seem,
because we are at once confronted with defining both what truth is and what wisdom is. A
comparison of the two definitions should reveal the answer to the question. Unfortunately, like all
philosophical questions, we require to go a little deeper than a shallow comparison of definitions.
Asking what truth is is asking one of the central questions of philosophy; the problem of truth is a
main issue in the philosophy of logic, but it also concerns the philosophy of language, the theory of
meaning, the problem of knowledge and the philosophy of mind and ethics. Scientists, poets and
mystics also require to delve into the question of truth. Also, we cannot leave out politics and religion.

We have to ask whether in all this interest and search for truth a unifying thread can be found, and
how much is relevant to the specifically philosophical enquiry into the nature of truth. You will see at
once that to attempt this here is far too big a task. I must, therefore, confine the definition to a much
narrower concept of truth, namely, as an attribute of sentences. What does it mean to say that a
sentence/statement is true? A sentence/statement is true if and only if what it says corresponds to the
facts, or to reality.: or, to say a sentence/statement is true is to say that it is not false. Nothing can be
both true and false at the same time. Such sentences/statements are related to what is going on in
the world.

Now, what about wisdom? The dictionary says, ' it is the ability to make right use of knowledge; the
capacity to judge rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; sound judgement, especially in
practical affairs.' But does this go far enough? What does it mean to 'judge rightly,' or to have ' sound
judgement'? Who is to decide what is right or sound? What sort of knowledge does one need, and
how does one learn how to make good use of it? Again, like the matter of truth, I must confine the
concept to a much narrower field.

Above all, wisdom is practical, dealing directly with matters relating to life and conduct, with practical
affairs. We could say that there is also a creative element about it. Wisdom often involves seeing
through the apparent issue to the real issue that underlies it. There is little empirical research on
wisdom itself; but there is some information about what people consider wisdom to be. This leads us
into the realms of psychology, rather than philosophy. In this context wisdom is to do with weighing
advice, dealing with different people, seeking information for decision making. There is an empirical
content in the notion that we can identify wise people in the way they are able to make wise
judgements involving fairness. If you have read the Bible you will know of the wisdom of Solomon and
the wise decision he made when he threatened to cut a baby in half to settle the dispute of ownership
between two alleged mothers, the real mother was revealed when she pleaded that the baby be given
to the other woman rather than let it die.

Wisdom is also to do with flexibility of mind, wise people are not rigid in their views, and are willing to
change their views as experience dictates. This enables wise people to handle complex problems.
Wisdom is applied in the understanding that knowledge is always incomplete, that knowledge itself is
essentially unsure, equivocal, open to question and reinterpretation. This may sound mystical, but the
really wise person seems to withdraw from the world , seems to stand back to observe what is going
on. Objectivity rather than subjectivity is the order of the day for the wise person. There is a notion
that schools and universities purporting to teach ' certainties ' militates against wisdom and
encourages stereotyping and intolerance. In the philosophy of mind, and in psychology, wisdom is to
do with the subconscious element of mind, and not the conscious, which is engaged in the tangled
complexities of everyday life.

Your question has touched on a fascinating area of philosophy and, as I said at the beginning,
involves several facets, as well as the philosophy of truth, it invades the philosophy of mind,
philosophy of language, and could be seen to have a metaphysical content in mysticism. The
philosophy of religion involves religious truths within the parameters of religion, and, of course,
religious wisdom, for example, the wisdom of God, the wisdom of Jesus, and, as we have seen, the
wisdom of Solomon (which came from the inner self, i.e. from God). Moral philosophy must of
necessity be involved in the search for truth through wise contemplation.

We might say then, that truth seems to be about what is going on in the world at large, whilst wisdom
seems to be very much to do with minds that observe the world at large and decide upon its truths.

John Brandon

Without embarking on a full exploration of the interconnection between truth and wisdom we can go
on quite an interesting fishing trip by looking at only one aspect of the relationship and examining
what is trawled up in the net. The aspect I have in mind is one that has a central role in the discussion
about the role of modern philosophy in application or use in professional and personal lives. At
present this discussion seems to be focussing on philosophical counseling, philosophy for children,
and critical thinking, although we could also include, knowledge management and knowledge
engineering as more technically disposed cousins of the family.

Rather than going into those areas though we can usefully look in detail at some aspects the logic
underlying the issue. These can be explored in terms of the relationship between truth and value as a
tacit element of wisdom in as much that we expect that having truths always leads to wanting truths
or more simply that we expect truth to lead to satisfaction, in parallel to the way that we expect truth
to be integrally associated with wisdom.

The evolution of scientific truths is perhaps a strong example of a corpus of truths the application of
which can lead to more truth wisdom or satisfaction, dissatisfaction or both.

Medical science sits squarely as an example from which we can generalise concerning the
development of truths that are both self-satisfying for the medical research community and satisfying
for the individuals who's health benefits from their application.

The same corpus of truths can equally lead in application to dissatisfaction for a great many
individuals whilst leading to strong immediate satisfaction for the producers. In particular I was
thinking of the case where pharmaceutical companies have effective treatments for diseases affecting
millions that are too expensive for some countries to afford. Here is, I feel a good example in which
truth is owned but unwisely applied as its application leads to particular dissatisfaction for those who
cannot receive the treatment and general and possibly permanent dissatisfaction in public perception
of the pharmaceutical industry, applied medical science and possibly scientific truth itself.

At a more individual scale we can understand a doctor who has truths about a patient that may lead
to dissatisfaction for themselves in terms of the aim of promoting the patients return to health should
these truths be revealed and dissatisfaction for the patient in that their health may deteriorate once
they also have those truths. Again a situation in which it would not be wise to either reveal or have
particular kinds of truth.

So far from these examples we could reasonably argue that the connection between wisdom and
truth has something to do with having truth and consideration of the production of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction from either applying those truths or revealing them. We can I think therefore argue
quite strongly that having truths does not guarantee wanting truths and is some cases can lead to not
wanting them. Having truth then does not guarantee having wisdom in the sense that having wisdom
seems to require knowledge of the values attached to the consequences of applying those truths. I
would further argue that to have knowledge of the values attached to truths and their consequences
is to have wisdom.

What can this argument contribute to the discussion concerning applied philosophy in the form of
philosophical counseling in particular? It suggests strongly I think that we can systematically evaluate
practical problematic situations that individuals find themselves in, in terms of the satisfactions and
dissatisfactions that attach to their world. We can further argue that these values have both a
propositional and value content susceptible to logical and therefore philosophical analysis. The
practice of philosophy in this form would I think, be coextensive with the application and getting of
true wisdom.

Neil Buckland