Derived from aphron ('without sense, foolish'), aphrosyne denotes a deficiency of understanding or prudent judgment. In Mark 7:22, Jesus lists it among the evils that proceed from the human heart — foolishness as a moral and spiritual failing, not merely an intellectual deficiency. Paul's usage in 2 Corinthians 11 is strikingly ironic: he repeatedly asks the Corinthians to bear with him in his 'foolishness' (11:1, 17, 21) as he launches into what scholars call the 'fool's speech,' boasting of his apostolic credentials. The word is thus colored by its opposite, sophia — it names what happens when wisdom is absent. French 'folie' and German 'Torheit' both carry this rich connotation of folly as wisdom's negation.