A question which is often posed is "Which would you choose : Knowledge or Wisdom ?" I believe most people will answer wisdom. I am not surprised, because wisdom implies an "ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting" (dictionary.com) , while knowledge merely means that one knows a lot but does not neccessarily apply this knowledge justly. To raise a simplistic example, stories may have wise characters, but these are always good characters (or neutral at worst). There never was a "wise and evil wizard", right ? However, it is justifiable to have a "learned but twisted sorcerer", because knowledge, unlike wisdom, seems to have no bearing on one's alignment (to use D&D terms).
I am not a "learned but twisted sorcerer", but I would prefer knowledge over wisdom. The reason for my choice is because I believe that there are no objective moral truths, and hence this necessarily implies that there is no objective right or wrong. If so, then there is no "true wisdom', merely many "subjective wisdoms" each suscribing to different ideas of moral truth. Each wisdom is as utterly meaningless as the next. Why, then, should I pursue wisdom ?
I could simplify the original question , making it "Which would you choose to be instantly granted to you : Great Knowledge or Great Wisdom ? " . In this case, great wisdom is even worse a choice than before. The key point is whose "Great Wisdom" would you be granted ? It could be Satan's wisdom. It could be George Bush's. In any case, gaining "Great Wisdom" must mean the forceful destruction of your own wisdom, because it is unlikely that two systems of moral truth can coexist in one vessel (you). Hence, gaining "Great Wisdom" is absolutely useless, and in fact proves to be a negative, for you would even lose yourself.
Knowledge, on the other hand, is by far more objective than Wisdom. There are some objective truths that are immutable and independent of context . A circle cannot rightly be a triangle (although it could wrongly be intepreted to be a triangle, but this does not change the nature of the circle). Most importantly, gaining knowledge does not forcefully change my fundamental nature, because I am free to intepret the knowledge I have gained.
Hence my answer that Knowledge is better than Wisdom.
2 comments:
well, sorcerers use intelligence as the attribute for determining spells but wizards use wisdom... so actually both intelligence and wisdom have absoulutely no bearing on alignment (D&D terms)...
Point noted, but I have serious doubts that that particular definition of intelligence and wisdom is what most people think of when they hear those two words.
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