For a philosophical analysis of repentance and self-knowledge, in a volume on wisdom in the Christian faith, it might seem strange to turn to Aristotle and Sartre for conceptual resources. Let us wait, however, and see if it proves fruitful.

In Aristotle's account of the intellectual virtues, the word wisdom (in English translation) shows up twice. As I read Book VI of the Nicomachean Ethics, there are basically three intellectual virtues. One we might call contemplation, if that term did not seem too narrowly to suggest aesthetic or religious meditation. Let us call it theory instead. It has three dimensions for Aristotle, although he treats them as distinct virtues: nous, the intuitive-inductive apprehension of the first principles or premises of syllogistic science; episteme, the ability to draw syllogistic conclusions from the discoveries of nous; and sophia, the net result of the first two dimensions, the body of knowledge that deserves to be called knowledge. Sophia is standardly translated as wisdom or theoretical wisdom, but this is misleading, because sophia is pure theory, not intended to guide the knower into living well. It is therefore closer to what we mean by science than to our sense of wisdom.