A sage (Ancient Greek: σοφός, sophos), in classical philosophy, is someone who has attained the wisdom which a philosopher seeks. The first to make this distinction is Plato within the Symposium. While analyzing the concept of love, Plato concludes love is that which lacks the object it seeks. Therefore, the philosopher (Ancient Greek: φιλόσοφος, meaning lover of wisdom) does not have the wisdom sought, while the sage, on the other hand, does not love or seek wisdom, for it is already possessed. Plato then examines the two categories of persons who do not do philosophy:
Gods and sages, because they are wise;
senseless people, because they think they are wise.
The position of the philosopher is between these two groups. The philosopher is not wise, but possesses the self-awareness of lacking wisdom, and thus pursues it. This distinction between the philosopher and the sage played an important part in Stoicism.[1]
Alternatively, the sage is one who lives "according to an ideal which transcends the everyday." [2] Plato is also the first to develop this notion of the sage in various works. Within The Republic, Plato indicates that when a friend of sage dies, the sage "will not think that for a good man... death is a terrible thing."[3] In the Theaetetus, Plato defines the sage as one who becomes "just and pure, with understanding,",[4] and is thus God-like in his nature.
The term has also been used interchangeably with a 'good person' (Ancient Greek: ἀγαθός, agathos), and a 'virtuous person' (Ancient Greek: σπουδαίος, spoudaios).[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_%28philosophy%29
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