DEFINING A WISE MAN

DEFINING A FOOL

DEFINING A POLICEMAN

DEFINING A TOOL

I presume you know the story about Socrates. He was, according to the Oracle at Delphi, the wisest man in Greece, because only he realized how much he didn't know, and thus felt compelled to remedy the situation by continually asking questions. It was said by the Greeks that talking to Socrates was a bit like getting an electric shock.
(How did they know what an electric shock feels like? Electric eels, of course!)

I think that a person is truly wise only if they (1) realize that they know practically nothing, and (2) decide to do something about it by the use of reason and observation.

Ulrich

I'm game, so i went to those links.

Wisemen - Their thoughts and writings are in complete harmony with each other whether they be of the past, the present or the future.

Well this pretty much excludes the writers of the bible, very few of their writings are in harmony.

Fool - one who readily believes in whatever one is told.

Seems to include people who readily believe what the writers of the bible (whom we have determined are not wise men) have told them.

Was this thread supposed to prove something?

Vj ~ Yes, that you are not wise.

Vj ~ (1) How is it possible for both the fool and the wise to know nothing unless you are a fool?

(2)If a fool knew the "use of reason" the fool would not have been a fool in the first place.

Vj ~ The perfect example of a wise man.

[This message has been edited by Vijai Singh (edited March 07, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Vijai Singh (edited March 07, 2001).]

Vj - your questions:
(1) The point is that what makes one wise is not knowledge in itself - it's the reasoned search for knowledge in recognition of the fact that you know unacceptably little.

(2)
I didn't say anything about fools, but to clarify... Just because somebody knows how to use reason doesn't mean he's not a fool - perhaps he's all the more foolish for not using reason when he knows how to.

A fool is someone who thinks the bible is mumbo jumbo dreamend up by a 3000 year old peasant.

A wise man is someone who sees a star in the East and then heads West.

Boro Nut

Old Greek proverb:


The same old quesiton of what defined a wiseman in the days of Augustine- the skeptics of the academy defined a wise man as one who withheld assent. Augustine blew this up and called such a person paralyzed. (the skeptics shot their foot by using Zeno the stoic's definition of truth)