Wisdom vs. Discernment: What’s the Difference?

Main Difference

The main difference between Wisdom and Discernment is that the Wisdom is a deep understanding of or knowledge of a subject and Discernment is a activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject.

• Wisdom

  Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity, is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as compassion, experiential self-knowledge, non-attachment and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.Wisdom has been defined in many different ways, a variety of measurement scales have been developed, and several subtypes of wisdom have been proposed. Out of these, phronesis and sophia are two key subtypes of wisdom.

  In the classical Greek tradition, there is a distinction between sophia “wisdom” and phronesis “prudence, practical intelligence”.

• Discernment

  Discernment is the ability to obtain sharp perceptions or to judge well (or the activity of so doing). In the case of judgment, discernment can be psychological or moral in nature. Within judgment, discernment

  involves going past the mere perception of something and making nuanced judgments about its properties or qualities. Considered as a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.

• Wisdom (noun)

  An element of personal character that enables one to distinguish the wise from the unwise.

• Wisdom (noun)

  A piece of wise advice.

• Wisdom (noun)

  The discretionary use of knowledge for the greatest good.

• Wisdom (noun)

  The ability to apply relevant knowledge in an insightful way, especially to different situations from that in which the knowledge was gained.

• Wisdom (noun)

  The ability to make a decision based on the combination of knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding.

• Wisdom (noun)

  The ability to know and apply spiritual truths.

• Discernment (noun)

  The ability to distinguish; judgement.

• Discernment (noun)

  Discrimination.

• Discernment (noun)

  The ability to distinguish between things.

• Discernment (noun)

  The ability to perceive differences that exist.

• Discernment (noun)

  The condition of understanding.

• Discernment (noun)

  Aesthetic discrimination; taste, appreciation.

• Discernment (noun)

  Perceptiveness.

• Discernment (noun)

  The ability to make wise judgements; sagacity.

• Discernment (noun)

  Discretion in judging objectively.

• Discernment (noun)

  the ability to judge well

  “an astonishing lack of discernment”

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