The Image of Wisdom in Uzbek and English Literature

Abstract

Many people believe that the highest stage of human development is wisdom. Although revered by everybody, it is unknown whether the idea of wisdom can be applied in the same ways in all cultures. We examine the existing scholarly definitions, representations of wisdom in various world philosophies, folk beliefs on wisdom and its growth, and empirical insights evaluating expression of wisdom-related features as we evaluate the recent research on this topic. Scholarly and cross-cultural folk notions seem to have a lot in common, pointing to the fact that wisdom contains some features of pragmatic reasoning but is less clear when it comes to emotion regulation and prosocial aspects. In terms of how much they emphasize social aspects and view wisdom development as an incremental ability (rather than an unchanging thing), folk views about wisdom vary among cultures. Also different across cultures is the propensity for wisdom expression. We urge an understanding of the distribution and purpose of psychological phenomena associated to knowledge that is rooted in culture.