Deconstructing Wisdom through a Cultural Lens: Folk Understandings of Wisdom and its Ontology in the Philippines and Sri Lanka

Abstract

Heighted epistemic arrogance, misinformation, and intergroup conflict in many contemporary societies have been paralleled by growing interest in wisdom across social, behavioral and medical sciences. In a recently established Common Wisdom Model, central features concern epistemic virtues of intellectual humility, recognition of world in flux and change, and consideration and integration of different perspectives. Here, we raise the question whether the model’s focus on epistemic concerns is also apparent in non-Western folk concepts of wisdom.To address this question, we conducted sixteen focus group discussions about wisdom in the Philippines (N = 80) and Sri Lanka (N = 94), countries with a long history of both sociopolitical conflict and economic adversity. Results from thematic analyses revealed epistemic themes in the responses of most focus group participants in both countries. However, the individual’s likelihood of mentioning epistemic themes varied by questioning format and country. Epistemic content was more pronounced when questions concerned abstract definitions/general characteristics rather than concrete behavioral/psychological processes. Furthermore, participants in the Philippines had significantly greater than chance likelihood of mentioning epistemic themes in the responses to abstract questions about the development of wisdom and general views of wisdom, whereas in Sri Lanka the likelihood of epistemic content in response to the same questions was at chance. This cross-country difference was more pronounced when the questions were framed abstractly rather than concretely. We discuss these insights in light of the Common Wisdom model and the role of question format for crosscultural research.