wise vs smart
- Thread starter jojorah
- Start date
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
I think you get to define it yourself
UnendingRequiem
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2011
- Messages
- 40
Wise.
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
This is the real problem with wisdom. Many people consider themselves and those who agree with their personal opinions to be wise. It is completely subjective based on personal values.
I am sure that both Ronald Reagan and George Bush considered themselves to be imbued with this characteristic while they were president, as did their supporters. No doubt Gadhafi's many supporters consider him to be wise as well. The same is true for the supporters of the rulers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, except to the oppressed Shia who likely have a vastly different opinion. Even Benjamin Netenyahu is considered to be wise enough to be the prime minister of Israel, despite being an ultraconservative who represents a political extreme in Israeli politics. Jim Jones and David Koresh were considered to be demigods by many their followers. The list is endless.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I agree.
To me the difference between the two can be summarized as such: Somebody who is smart is knowledgeable in some area, be it math, chemistry, geography, etc. Somebody who is wise has life experience of some kind - this is invaluable and can't just be taught.
I entirely agree with this definition, which is the standard one too.
Definitely being wise will save one from making mistakes, whereas being smart has to do with creativity. A person can be extremely smart, but unwise, which is a potentially dangerous situation.
Narz
keeping it real
I'm not sure you're being serious (I suspect you're not since you didn't seem interested in discussion before) but can you define "being smart"?
Smart is as ambiguous as wise, perhaps more so.
Narz
keeping it real
Ideally all three but yeah. Empathy is smart too, people with more human connections are healthier & being healthy is smart.
I think that you can define intelligence, schematically anyway, claiming that it is the degree of complexity your thinking has. By that i mean conscious complexity. By itself it does not guarantee that you will think correctly.
For example most people in adolescence, being unwise, will have some unrealistic theory about how they will succeed in something. Depending on their intelligence this will be more or less intricate and far-reaching. However a person who has wisdom of life will be in a position to know just what thoughts are beneficial and realistic, and utilize them. Another might be extremely intelligent, but lacking knowledge of the world is not very likely to think correctly what to do so as to achieve his goals.
For example most people in adolescence, being unwise, will have some unrealistic theory about how they will succeed in something. Depending on their intelligence this will be more or less intricate and far-reaching. However a person who has wisdom of life will be in a position to know just what thoughts are beneficial and realistic, and utilize them. Another might be extremely intelligent, but lacking knowledge of the world is not very likely to think correctly what to do so as to achieve his goals.
duckstab
Child of Noble Family
What the OP is really pointing to is the idea that human beings have multiple intelligences. It's possible to be highly developed in some and less developed in others. So to vastly oversimplify the picture, a person can be highly developed cognitively (intelligence) but underdeveloped ethically or emotionally (wisdom - or in this case lack thereof).
However, these lines of development are not totally independent. If someone doesn't have sufficient cognitive development to take alternate points of view, they will not be morally or emotionally developed either. They just won't have the basis for forming those capacities. If you take the time to talk to anyone who you'd consider "wise", you'll find that they're also very "intelligent". They may or may not be educated, but they're never stupid.
Forrest Gump, BTW, is the only known exception to this rule. But he was a fictional character, not an actual human being.
However, these lines of development are not totally independent. If someone doesn't have sufficient cognitive development to take alternate points of view, they will not be morally or emotionally developed either. They just won't have the basis for forming those capacities. If you take the time to talk to anyone who you'd consider "wise", you'll find that they're also very "intelligent". They may or may not be educated, but they're never stupid.
Forrest Gump, BTW, is the only known exception to this rule. But he was a fictional character, not an actual human being.
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
Using wisdom as a benchmark was perhaps best exemplified in Peter Seller's next-to-last film, Being There.
Link to video.
Link to video.
I would agree with you that some degree of intelligence is needed so that one can be wise. I am not sure though if one has to be above normal intelligence so as to be that; it would follow that the minority of people would achieve some sort of wisdom of the "ways of the world" if that was the case. I like to think that most people at some age become wise, due to mere self-reflection, each one in his own particular way.
Now being very intelligent might even be said to have the opposite effect, at least sometimes. I recall that in the Torah a scholar should always have with him some helper, to assist him in normal matters (not those of his high study). I find this to be a nice example of the extremes in which isolated intelligence can lead someone to, for example being awkward in social matters.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
The thing is, the wisest children I've known have tended to be the ones whose intelligence provided reasoning that lead them to their wise conclusions. I think the same holds true for most wise adults.
duckstab
Child of Noble Family
Chance wasn't smart or wise. The film was more about people assuming that he was both because he was well-mannered and well-dressed.
Not sure what you mean by "wise children", it seems to be a contradiction in terms if wisdom is defined as has been a few posts above.
Children have a very active imagination, since they are forming the basis of their internal life in those years. But i would suspect that the ones who had less problems with false thoughts were the ones who had good parents, that is in this context largely parents who had some wisdom themselves.
"Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad" - anon
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
That is exactly my point.
There is no biological or statistical merit to this hypothesis. People who have high general intelligence are more competent in all areas, including math, language, musical talent, artistic ability, etc.
It's fascinating to see people try to defend lack of intelligence so much by pretending that those who lack it have worth in other fake cognitive areas. This is silly. This is like trying to defend fatness as a virtue as opposed to fitness, or shortness as opposed to tallness, drug abuse compared to abstinence, or lack of music talent compared to musical genius. So you lack a desirable trait and are not fit to be a major player to shape the world - get over it. Not all bees are biologically destined to become queen.
