foolishness

{{Short description|Lack of social norms causing offence or similar effect}}

{{other uses|Foolish (disambiguation)|Fool (disambiguation)}}

File:Giotto- The Seven Vices - Foolishness.JPG—from his fresco of seven virtues and their opposite vices in the Scrovegni Chapel. Stultitia (folly) was shown as the opposite of Prudentia (prudence).]]

Foolishness is the inability or failure to act following reason due to lack of judgment, stupidity, stubbornness, etc.American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language The things such as impulsivity and/or influences may affect a person's ability to make reasonable decisions.{{cn|date=August 2023}} Other reasons of apparent foolishness include naivety, gullibility, and credulity. Foolishness differs from stupidity, which is the lack of intelligence.{{citation |title=Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid |author=Robert J. Sternberg |chapter=Smart People Are Not Stupid, But They Sure Can Be Foolish |pages=232 et seq |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780300101706}} An act of foolishness is called folly. A person who is foolish is called a fool. The opposite of foolishness is prudence. Nathan Rosenstreich, "Prudence and Folly", American Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 22, issue 2, 1985, {{jstor|20014085}}, p. 93.