The חכם

In the beginning of the חכם's philosophy we had some liking to him and his ideals. But once we saw his conclusion we realized he was just like the rest, concluding his big finale with everything is הבל. The חכם has two main philosophies that he focuses on. From his first speech to his last, one changes drastically and the other stays the exact same. 

In פרק ז ט-טז he brings up the issue of perfection. He responds to the עמל, who strives for only perfection, by saying that man was not made to be perfect. They were not creating in the intentions to create perfect things. You do not have control over the world, therefore how are you going to make anything perfect. In his last speech he speaks about exactly the opposite. In פרק ט the חכם creates a metaphor. One dead fly destroys a huge vat of perfume. The dead fly represents the נהנה, and the perfume represents himself. Just one small imperfection destroys a large amount of good. 

The other aspect of his philosophy that stays the same throughout קוהלת is the worth of חכמב. In the beginning he explains that חכמה is the only thing that can lead you to enlightenment. There is nothing better than knowledge. Later in his philosophy he starts to become haughty about who he is. If you build a structure without architecture (wisdom), your structure will collapse. You need חכמה to guide you and help you. He also explains that you should fix your problem before it breaks. How do you do that? Only with wisdom this is possible. He even goes to the extent of saying that the leaders are corrupt because they don't have my wisdom. What the חכם needs is a little bit of manners and respect. He is too haughty and egotistical.