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What Form Of Wisdom Is Meaningful For Life Today?

Wisdom as good judgement can be meaningful for life that is full of constantly changing situations. We need to govern and discipline our lives by knowing and doing what is right. We need to have prudence which the ability to evaluate between good and bad actions, not only in a general sense, but also with regards to proper actions at a particular time and place.

Prudence is a virtue and just like any other virtue, it does not perform any action. Thus it requires basically with a number of things.

1. Memory which involves openness to reality and willingness to be measured by what is real.
2. Open-mindedness which requires recognition of our own limitations and acceptance of those limits.
3. Astuteness which is the ability to quickly size up a situation
4. Logical Reasoning which is the use of logical thinking in order to find results or draw conclusions
5. Circumspection which is taking into consideration all possible circumstances and consequences before acting.

To prudently examine a situation, one must have this true-to-being memory which has the real things as what they are now and were in the past. One also must have open-mindedness. One must have this a clear vision of the situation at hand, foresees the goal and consequences of an action, considers the special circumstances involved and overcomes the temptation of injustice, cowardice, or intemperance.

When a wise person encounters particular situation, he needs to examine and evaluate alternative possibilities and reason well from premises to conclusions. He will need to reason about what the best alternative or option that will realize the right end. He needs to seek to accomplish the action in a good way — doing what is good in a good way.

Prudence is significant in today’s technological world primarily because people nowadays need practical kind of wisdom as a solution to various forms of modern, excessive pride and arrogance. It is the mother of all virtues. Thus, no other virtue can...