Can wisdom be quantified?

Wisdom would be tough, but stupidity would be easy, so maybe a reverse scale type of idea?

@Adirondackwannabe good Idea….I think Jay Leno is starting that with his “Jaywalking All Star” skits

Whether IQ and EQ are good quantifications really depends on their usefulness in predicting success based on tasks we consider to require intelligence or emotional understanding, and moreso whether they show things that weren’t clear to begin with. I feel like they’re useful only to reveal potential hidden problems (e.g., there are times that an IQ test can reveal that poor performance is related to a child’s unmet need because of high intelligence rather than other assumed factors).

Wisdom is generally understood to be the profound understanding of something that results in the ability to produce optimum results in that area with each task undertaken. Of course, this will be either (1) so clear that to measure it is superfluous, or (2) if unclear, unclear because those attempting to measure it can’t understand how it’s done.

@iamthemob so only the wise can make the tests… and you can’t have a test until you find someone who is wise… ect… ect….

@talljasperman – I believe so. Tests on intelligence require that you have a meta-discussion about intelligence – what makes it, what is it, what reveals it, etc. It seems mostly that wisdom reveals itself to us. It also seems more of a state than a continuum, in that a smart child can be a stupid adult, and intelligence is judged mostly by your standing in relation to other people at your age. Wisdom seems more like an on/off switch – you are or you aren’t.

It’s also important to make a distinction between intelligence, knowledge or technical ability, and wisdom. The definition of each of these is pretty straight forward, except for wisdom, which has multiple definitions.

I wonder if there would be any point. Wisdom can only benefit a person who makes use of it. If one knew a person to be wise and asked their advice and then failed to take it… do you see what I mean? Then too, a person who was considered wise may not be party to giving advice, or answering questions that would help to quantify their wisdom, believing that others must earn insight through experience and thought. A wise one may not feel inclined to “cast their pearls before swine” so to speak.