Beyond knowledge: An inquiry into the nature and meaning of wisdom through a hermeneutic reading of selected sufi narratives

• Main Author: Mansukhani, Gansham T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1998
• Subjects: Wisdom; Hermeneutics; Sufi literature; Philosophy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/794
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper studies the nature of wisdom through a hermeneutic reading of 10 Sufi narratives using a Gadamerian framework. As a result of the study, it was discovered that wisdom can be characterized by the attentiveness to context, the recognition of various states of consciousness, the disidentification with the ego, the preference for holistic viewpoints, the awareness of the significance for holistic viewpoints, the awareness of the significance of chance events, the contemplation on death, the distinction between maps and territories, the recognition of the auspiciousness of certain conditions for learning, the recognition of the value of form in relation to content, and the recognition of aspects in the psyche or in the world which thwart all attempts to pursue wisdom. Wisdom was also discovered to be deeply entrenched in the narrative tradition, and could be described, succinctly, as the integration of the spiritual and the aesthetic in the field of practical activity.