Becoming Wise by Kindling of the Flame with Wisdom Pedagogy in Higher Education

Abstract

The next paradigm change in human history will be the shift from the knowledge society towards the wise society where the role of education in cultivating wisdom of students becomes essential. This conceptual paper asks: How does wisdom evolve and how can its development be taught? The research method is based on critical realism research philosophy, abductive theory building approach. Data is collected with a critical integrative literature review. This paper highlights trends in wisdom research and in higher education. Its purposes are to create a framework of becoming wise, and to present a possible process of wisdom pedagogy. The study revealed that wisdom in higher education has been neglected for a long time. The paper makes creative and novel theoretical contributions to the field of evolutionary wisdom pedagogy. It calls for testing the proposed process in live teaching situations and continuing the discourse around wisdom pedagogy in higher education.