Definitions: (1) knowledgeable and perceptive of modern matters; urbane; worldly-wise; cultured; (2) clever with complex ideas
Derivation: The Sophists were a class of ancient Greeks who taught values: rhetoric, philosophy, politics, mathematics, etc. Unfortunately, the use of vain subtleties and false axioms by some, gave the word sophistry its current meaning of general distrust and contempt.
Balancing Qualities: Honest, Natural, Simple
Quote: We are not angels; we are merely sophisticated apes. Yet we feel like angels trapped inside the bodies of beasts, craving transcendence and all the time trying to spread our wings and fly off. It is really a very odd predicament to be in. — Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (1951-) Indian-American neuroscientist