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Wisdom vs. Knowledge

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Wisdom vs. Knowledge

The quality of having skills, experience and good judgement results from knowledge or

wisdom that individuals possess. Wisdom and knowledge help individuals to make decisions and

lead better lives as they are informed of various experiences or have a way of getting past many

circumstances. Wisdom is gained from daily experiences that individuals encounter, which often

enable the persons handle challenges in future. On the other hand , knowledge is obtained from

learning and education where individuals gather facts or truths on different phenomena.

Knowledge is cumulative as individuals continue learning or seeking education from schools and

vocational institutions.

The wellbeing of individuals can be attributed to either knowledge, which is

characterized by the level of intelligence, or wisdom that involves critical thinking. In this case,

both wisdom and knowledge contribute to the general wellbeing in persons, however, critical

thinking is a good predictor of the welfare in people. Critical thinking involves close evaluation

of a circumstance to establish the objectives to achieve, which lead to measurable outcomes in

real life (Butler, 2012). Intelligence refers to the ability to apply knowledge or skills that

individuals possess in various circumstances. Deductively, wisdom that incorporates intelligence

and application of critical skills leads to individuals’ wellbeing, which is characterized by

comfort health or happiness in life.

Often good people in society are smart as they understand how society works and the

essential qualities that members should adopt. Similarly, smart people are good in their character

as utilize the knowledge in themselves to distend and create better environment for others

(Grossmann et al., 2013). Individuals are good when they can provide care or support to others

and establish desirable traits in their immediate environment. smart people possess intelligence,

which enables them to critically evaluate circumstances and make decisions. In this case,
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individuals can utilize intelligence to become good in society through seeking understanding of

the qualities and consequences of supporting or caring for others.

In conclusion, knowledge involves the information obtained through education while

wisdom integrates the skills derived from encountering various experiences. As wisdom involves

critical thinking and intelligence results from applying knowledge, wellbeing is mostly achieved

through practical experiences. In this case, good people are often smart in their skills on handling

situations around them as they help others around them. Also, smart people can end up being

good when the wisdom and intelligence they possess is channeled to prompting welfare.
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References

Butler, H. A. (2012). Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment predicts real‐world outcomes of

critical thinking. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26(5), 721-729.

https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2851.

Grossmann, I., Na, J., Varnum, M. E., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2013). A route to well-

being: Intelligence versus wise reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology:

General, 142(3), 944. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029560.