Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 148

'

124

§ 45.

WISDOM

[Div. II

in this plienomenon, so mysterious in itself, a saving strength

which enables the human mind clutches of Scepticism.

from the

to effect its escape

This wisdom can never supersede

discursive thought, nor can

take the place of empiricism,

it

but it has the general universal tendency to exclude follies from the processes of discursive thought, and in empirical investigation to promote the accuracy of our tact.

In answer to the objection that it is ditlicult to harmonize "wisdom" with the conception of cro(f>ia

this interpretation of

in our word "philosophy" ((^iXoao^ia)^ we observe that for a just criticism of this apparent objection we must go back to the original conception of " wisdom " as held by the

Greeks, and to the most ancient meaning of the combination As for " wisdom," we refer first of 4>ikdv with this word.

noteworthy sentence of Heraclitus: aoc^Crj aXi]6ea \€<yecv koI Trotelv Kara <pvaiv eTratovTa^, i.e. " Wisdom consists in knowing how to speak the truth, and how to live according to nature," in which the last words especially indicate that " wisdom " is taken as ripening from a natural instinct, while the verb "to live" (jroLelv) exhibits its pracWith Thales only it was thought that tical character. of all to the

"

wisdom

" also bore a

somewhat

theoretical character.

See

Plutarch's Life of Solon, 3, 9: "And, on the whole, it is likely that the conception of wisdom was at that time carried

further by Solon alone, in speculation, than

common

use

arose from

;

its

its

significance in

but in the case of others the name use in civil affairs."

'

What Xenophon

wisdom narrates

concerning Socrates leads to the same conclusion. See Xen. Mem. III. 9, 4: "(Socrates) did not separate (i.e. distinguish between) wisdom and prudence," even in this sense

Those who do not act rightly he considered neither Undoubtedly with Plato it is already "A possession of the truth in contemplation" (p. 414, 5), and with Aristotle, " The science of things divine and

tliat "

wise nor prudent."

human": but

this is not the original conception.

oldest philosophers

we do not

With

the

mention of a phiinvestigation. Their philosofind the

losophy which is the result of phy is rather an exposition of their insight into the relation

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