Jowett: Wisdom

  

sophia
phronesis

Wisdom (sophia, phronesis), = good fortune, Euthyd. 282; = true thought, Theaet. 170;—the true wisdom, to know God, ib. 176; to have harmony in the soul, Laws 3. 689; — wisdom, the highest of human things, Pro tag. 352 D; the most valuable of treasures, Euthyd. 282; Eryx. 394 A; can it be taught ? Euthyd. 282 (cp. Virtue); loveliness of, Phaedr. 250; unseen, ibid.; to be ascribed to God only, ib. 278 (cp. ApoL 23 A); the one true coin for which all things ought to exchange, Phaedo   69; the communion of the soul with the unchanging, ib. 79; the only release from evil, ib. 107; akin to truth, Rep.   6. 485 D; the power of, ib. 7. 518, 519; the only virtue which is innate in us, ib, 518 E; a real thing, Theaet 166 E; a good, Phil. 11, 66 (cp. Laws i. 631 C); not wholly to be severed from pleasure, Phil. 21, 60 foil; occupied in the contemplation of true being, ib. 59; to be prayed for both by states and men, Laws 3. 688; first among virtues, ib. A ; after the event, an easy matter, ib. 691 B, 692 B s the source of happiness, 1 Alcib. 134 (cp. Charm. 173; Meno 88) ;— wisdom and courage, Laws 12. 963 (cp. Protag. 350, 360; Gorg. 495);—wisdom and false opinion, Statesm. 278; — wisdom and friendship, Lysis   210;—wisdom and goodness, 1 Alcib. 124;—wisdom and injustice, Rep. 1.349 ;^-wisdom and knowledge, Theaet 145 E;—wisdom and science, Charm. 165 ;—wisdom and self-conceit, Phil. 48 D (cp Laws 5. 727 B, 732 A ; 9. 863);—wisdom and temperance, Charm. 165 C, 170, 171; Protag. 332; Symp. 209 A;—wisdom and virtue, Meno 88;—wisdom in the state, Rep. 4. 428 (cp. Laws 3.689; 12. 964, 965); the fairest wisdom that which is concerned with the ordering of states, Symp. 209 A.

Wisdom. [ Wisdom is the equivalent in English of two Greek words, sophia and phronesis, between which, however, there is a slight difference of meaning. By the former is intended ’ wisdom’ in the wider sense, i.e. the highest combination of virtue and intelligence. The latter has the narrower signification of ’prudence’ or ’forethought] and contains less of the moral element.— Like temperance, wisdom is with difficulty distinguished as a separate virtue, and may be regarded rather as the culmination or perfection of all virtue, under which the other virtues are included (Meno 88; Phaedo 69; Symp. 209 A). It is the virtue which purges the soul from error (Phaedo 79, 107), or, to use another metaphor, which effects her conversion from darkness to light and enables her to behold true being (Rep. 7. 518). Unlike most of the other virtues it is not a matter of habit, but innate and the gift of God, of whom it is the peculiar attribute and prerogative (Phaedr. 278 D ; Rep. 7. 519 A ; Theaet. 176). Yet it is also the virtue which ’ every man from his very boyhood’ fancies that he possesses, and this universal self-conceit leads us into all kinds of error and folly (Phil. 49 A ; Laws 5. 727 A). Again, it is more akin to the good than pleasure, because it has a larger share of the three elements of the good,— beauty,symmetry, truth (Philebus   passim).—Finally, in the state wisdom is the virtue which more especially belongs to the legislator and the ruler. Those who have it will form the smallest class among the citizens, and may be fitly called the’ mind’ of the stale, because they are the guiding or directing faculty of the whole community (Rep. 4. 428; Laws 12.964). And, fust as in the soul the commands of reason ought to be obeyed by the desires, so in the state the mandates of the rulers and the laws should be accepted without question by the mass of the citizens (Laws 3. 689 A).].

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Soc. Wisdom and health and wealth and the like you would call goods, and their opposites evils ? GORGIAS

"What then is Love ?" I asked ; "Is he mortal ?" "No." "What then ?" "As in the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the two." "What is he, Diotima ?" "He is a great spirit (daimon), and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal." "And what," I said, "is his power ?" "He interprets," she replied, "between gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods ; he is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet and the priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all, prophecy and incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man ; but through Love. all the intercourse, and converse of god with man, whether awake or asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual ; all other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar. Now these spirits or intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of them is Love. "And who," I said, "was his father, and who his mother ?" "The tale," she said, "will take time ; nevertheless I will tell you. On the birthday of Aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god Poros or Plenty, who is the son of Metis or Discretion, was one of the guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty, as the manner is on such occasions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse for nectar (there was no wine in those days), went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a heavy sleep, and Poverty considering her own straitened circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down at his side and conceived love, who partly because he is naturally a lover of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful, and also because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant. And as his parentage is, so also are his fortunes. In the first place he is always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him ; and he is rough and squalid, and has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in ; on the bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in the streets, or at the doors of houses, taking his rest ; and like his mother he is always in distress. Like his father too, whom he also partly resembles, he is always plotting against the fair and good ; he is bold, enterprising, strong, a mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or other, keen in the pursuit of wisdom, fertile in resources ; a philosopher at all times, terrible as an enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment when he is in plenty, and dead at another moment, and again alive by reason of his father’s nature. But that which is always flowing in is always flowing out, and so he is never in want and never in wealth ; and, further, he is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge. The truth of the matter is this : No god is a philosopher. or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already ; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after Wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself : he has no desire for that of which he feels no want." "But — who then, Diotima," I said, "are the lovers   of wisdom, if they are neither the wise nor the foolish ?" "A child may answer that question," she replied ; "they are those who are in a mean between the two ; Love is one of them. For wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love is of the beautiful ; and therefore Love is also a philosopher : or lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the ignorant. And of this too his birth is the cause ; for his father is wealthy and wise, and his mother poor and foolish. Such, my dear Socrates  , is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was very natural, and as I imagine from what you say, has arisen out of a confusion of love and the beloved, which made you think that love was all beautiful. For the beloved is the truly beautiful, and delicate, and perfect, and blessed ; but the principle of love is of another nature, and is such as I have described." SYMPOSIUM  

Soc. Wisdom ; are not men wise in that which they know ? THEAETETUS