What is the wisdom of philosophy?

From the point of view of etymological verification, philosophy itself is "the study of wisdom" or "the study of love of wisdom". The English word "philosophy" is evolved from the ancient Greek words philein and sophia, philein means "love" and sophia means "wisdom". philein means "love" and sophia means "wisdom", and the combination of these two words means "love of wisdom". The question is what is wisdom.

Heraclitus of ancient Greece said, "Wisdom consists in one thing only, in knowing the mind that is good at mastering all things." "Wisdom consists in speaking the truth and acting and listening to nature as it is." According to Aristotle, "Since men study philosophy in order to escape from ignorance, it is clear that men seek wisdom in order to know." He also believed that only philosophy is the pursuit of "head wisdom." The Confucian Tractatus explains, "Philosophy is also wisdom. There is nothing to know, so one can be an official." Based on these ancient explanations, we can say that philosophy, as the study of wisdom, from the day it was created, is to give people wisdom, help them acquire knowledge, and teach them to be good at handling and managing everything in general. Philosophy is the study that teaches people, in general, to be good at handling and managing their relationship with the external world.

The so-called "wisdom" is different from knowledge or common sense. As a simple example, it is common sense to know that people will be born and die, and that seeds will germinate and grow; it is knowledge and science to understand that people will be born and die, and that seeds will germinate because of cellular metabolism; it is wisdom to understand that everything undergoes change, and that it is all connected and evolving. To summarize, wisdom consists of three aspects: first, wisdom is the grasp of the general pattern of things, that is, we often say the grasp of the essence and regularity of things. Secondly, wisdom is the insight into the complexity of things, where common sense thinking has no problem, wisdom is able to see and find problems and get to the bottom of them; where common sense thinking sees one level, wisdom can unfold multiple levels; where common sense thinking only touches one point, wisdom means that it can open up a complete world. Finally, wisdom is the anticipation of changes and trends in things, which reflects the nature of human beings as "animals that live in the future and act in the present" (in the words of Commons). Foresight is the highest state of wisdom.

And wisdom is alive and rooted in real life. Nor does philosophical wisdom emerge from the minds of philosophers. Any wisdom is formed, developed and manifested in people's activities in dealing with and mastering their relationship with the external world. The forms of human activity are many and varied, but in the final analysis they do two things, namely, to know the world and to transform the world. The activities of knowing the world and transforming the world, the unfolding of man's relations with the world, and the fruits of the material and spiritual civilization created thereby are all historical in nature and have the characteristics of the times. Philosophy cannot be divorced from a particular epoch, and therefore it cannot be other than a product of a particular epoch. That is to say, philosophy is the study of wisdom, the essence of the spirit of the times, which gives the shoulders of the giants that enable our thoughts to stand; philosophy is a method, and the nourishment we draw from the long river of wisdom that has a long history teaches us to be wise, and following that, we will choose the right method.