Fall 2011 Wisdom Course Study Questions

September 12, 2011

1. How is Pericles wisdom different from Socrates'? What terms from Greek philosophy describe each?

2. Drawing on the Hall reading, how might contemporary science tell us something about wisdom?

3. Identify definitions of wisdom and traits associated with wisdom.

4. Identify the general views on wisdom of Socrates, Buddha, and Confucius.

5. Describe the "perspective shift" in the Aquinas quote in the Robinson article. Does this seem like a basic trait of wise thinking?

September 14, 2011

1. What is Socrates' view of wisdom? How did he come to this view? What insights and limitations does it hold for you?

2. How does Plato connect a belief in the soul to the idea of wisdom as a transcendent state of knowledge? How does the myth of reincarnation fill in his view of the task of pursuing wisdom?

3. What is Aristotle's basic theory of wisdom?

4. According to Osbeck, how is wisdom a kind of "making" for Aristotle?

September 19, 2011

1. What is Labouvie-Vief's critique of Platonic thought and what remedy does she propose?

2. What were the chief results of Clayton and Birren's multidimensional scaling research on wisdom?

3. What explanation might be offered for the result that older people value experience by not necessarily age in defining wisdom?

4. From the Clayton and Birren article, what would you say are the major theoretical claims of life span psychology regarding wisdom?

September 21, 2011

1. How did contemporary psychological work on wisdom get started in the 70s and 80s? Who were the main figures and what initial question and theories did they pose?

2. What, in general, was the Berlin Wisdom Pardigm? What did it's critics say about it?

3. How did researchers like Laura Carstensen investigate the hypothesis that older adults excel at emotional regulation and that this might be related to wisdom? What is her "time horizon" theory?

4. What is the grandparent hypothesis?