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Sapience usually defined as wisdom or discernment, is the ability of an organism or entity to act with judgment. Judgment is a mental facility that is a particular form of intelligence or may be considered an additional facility, above intelligence, with its own properties. Robert Sternberg ^[1] has segregated the capacity for judgment from ordinary meanings of intelligence, which is closer to the sense of clever than to wisdom. Good judgment in making decisions about complex life or social decisions is a hallmark of being wise. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A value judgment is a judgment of the rightness or wrongness of something, based on a particular set of values or on a particular value system. ... Intelligence is the mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... Robert J. Sternberg (8 December 1949-) is the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University and is the former IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University. ...

The word sapience is derived from the Latin word for wisdom, sapientiae or sapientia. These are related to the verb sapere, which means 'to taste' but with the sense of tasting the meaning of life. It is generally interpreted in the English-speaking world as meaning to be wise, and the present participle forms part of Homo sapiens, the Latin binomial nomenclature created by Carolus Linnaeus to describe the human species. Linnaeus had originally given humans the species name of diurnis, meaning man of the day. But he later decided that the dominating feature of humans was wisdom, hence application of the name sapiens. Strangely, it seems that he did not consider the idea whether humans were just another kind of animal when choosing this name, instead basing his selection on contemporarily deep religious convictions that man was a product of special creation. Thus, his chosen biological name was intended to emphasize man's uniqueness and separation from the rest of the animal kingdom. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... It has been suggested that Verbal agreement be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 23, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... In biology, a species is a kind of organism. ... Special creation describes a mechanism for producing life on earth that is promoted by special creationists following an agenda known as special creationism. In general, special creation is a type of belief about the origin of life on earth. ...

While precise definitions of sapience vary, it is agreed that most humans (unless intellectually incapacitated) possess some measure of it. However, psychological research aimed at defining and measuring wisdom suggests that the capacity for good judgment varies widely in form and strength. It is an open question if humans are, as a species, particularly sapient in terms of making wise, long-term, maximum benefit for the maximum number decisions. It is also open to question if numerous other animals have some kind of sapience, even if in lower levels. Utilitarianism (1861), see Utilitarianism (book). ...

See also

• Sentience
• Self Awareness
• Metacognition - considered to be one of the definitions of sapience

This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Self-consciousness. ... Metacognition refers to thinking about cognition (memory, perception, calculation, association, etc. ...

References

1. ^ Sternberg, Robert J. (2003). Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesized. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80238-5. 

Robert J. Sternberg (8 December 1949-) is the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University and is the former IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University. ...

External links

• Wisdom Lexicon Project