Spring 2015 Wisdom Course Study Questions

Return to Wisdom

JAN 21

1. What are the principle traits and defining characteristics of wisdom on Hall's definition? Do they seem justified in light of your own paradigmatic image(s) of wisdom (situtations within you judge or hypothesize wise thought or action of some kind)?
2. (In Robinson) What are some characteristics of Homeric culture that distinguish its model of wisdom?
3. Is Socrates' legend a testimony to the reality of wisdom?
4. What is the Axial Age Hypothesis? Evaluate.
5. Distinguish Periclean and Socratic models of wisdom.
6. What is Aristotle's view of wisdom? (Consider both Robinson and next week's Clayton and Birren)
7. Describe and evaluate Gisela Labouvie-Vief's criticism of Western models of cognition.

JAN 28

1. What, if anything, does Clayton and Birren's multi-dimensional scaling study show? about how the nature of wisdom is perceived by age cohorts?

2. How does Ardelt explain variation on life satisfaction of older adults in terms of wisdom?

3. How might the subjective sense of "time remaining" affect the onset of wisdom or create a condition for it's emergence?

FEB 4

1. How should we account for the way wisdom moves from religious to secular forms of culture and "disappears" after the scientific revolution?

2. What are the distinctive themes and foci of the 1st generation of empirical wisdom research?

3. What does research on emotional regulation tell us about the nature of wisdom in the life span?