ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

The concept of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible - A comparative-philosophical analysis

 

 

Jacobus W. Gericke

Faculty of Humanities, School of Basic Sciences, Subject Group Theology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

This article provides a brief comparative philosophical clarification of the concept of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. Utilising the format of a presentation presented by Ryan (2008), four philosophical definitions of wisdom were compared with similar sentiments in ancient Israelite religion: (1) wisdom as epistemic humility, (2) wisdom as factual knowledge, (3) wisdom as useful knowledge, and (4) wisdom as successful living. Cumulatively the four criteria might approximate a functional list of individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions for instantiating the property of being wise.

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References

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Ryan, S., 1996, 'Wisdom', in K.B. Lehrer, J. Lum, B.A. Slichta & N.D. Smith (eds.), Knowledge, Teaching, and Wisdom, pp. 233-242, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, FL.         [ Links ]

 

 

Correspondence:
Jaco Gericke
PO Box 1174
Vanderbijlpark 1900
South Africa
Email: 21609268@nwu.ac.za

Received: 27 Mar. 2011
Accepted: 31 May 2011
Published: 08 Sept. 2011