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Can you be wiser than you know?

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It's a sort of compliment "You are wiser than you know." but is it even possible? Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi comes to mind of course. "Out of the mouths of babes" is a more backhanded version of the same compliment.

It goes without saying that one can be a bigger fool than one thinks one is; indeed perhaps fools always think themselves wiser than they are.

But it would seem somehow unwise to think oneself less wise than one is. Such a condition lacks the certainty and the confidence that I associate with wisdom.

Though I don't wish to subtract from the wisdom of those who are naively wise, I think they would be all the more wise if they were aware of their wisdom.

Agree? Disagree?

@Deckard,

I always figured if "dumb" people thought they were "smart" then they would have no reason nor inclination to become truly "smart"...

Dumb and smart being judgments bestowed, of course.

@Deckard,

Deckard;146552 wrote:

It's a sort of compliment "You are wiser than you know." but is it even possible? Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi comes to mind of course. "Out of the mouths of babes" is a more backhanded version of the same compliment.

It goes without saying that one can be a bigger fool than one thinks one is; indeed perhaps fools always think themselves wiser than they are.

But it would seem somehow unwise to think oneself less wise than one is. Such a condition lacks the certainty and the confidence that I associate with wisdom.

Though I don't wish to subtract from the wisdom of those who are naively wise, I think they would be all the more wise if they were aware of their wisdom.

Agree? Disagree?

But aren't there degrees of wisdom? And might not a particular degree of wisdom be associated with not realizing that you are as wise as you are?

@Deckard,

You can be very wise without having the means to compare yourself to the rest of humanity and determine how wise you are relatively. Wasn't that Socrates's issue? He thought he wasn't very wise, and then traveled around and found that he was wiser than all of these supposedly wise men, or something like that.

@Jebediah,

Jebediah;146711 wrote:

You can be very wise without having the means to compare yourself to the rest of humanity and determine how wise you are relatively. Wasn't that Socrates's issue? He thought he wasn't very wise, and then traveled around and found that he was wiser than all of these supposedly wise men, or something like that.

Well, he claimed to have discovered that there was something he knew that they did not know. It was that he knew nothing, but they did not know they knew nothing. I don't know whether you want to call that wisdom. Anyway Socrates did not know that, since it was false, since Socrates knew a lot of things. And so did the others, too.

@Jebediah,

Jebediah;146711 wrote:

You can be very wise without having the means to compare yourself to the rest of humanity and determine how wise you are relatively. Wasn't that Socrates's issue? He thought he wasn't very wise, and then traveled around and found that he was wiser than all of these supposedly wise men, or something like that.

He would act like... oh let me learn from your great wisdom.... then he would start asking the simple questions that have the whole thing unraveling.

I think this issue is a good reason for a young person to keep a diary. Decades later you might be astounded at how wise you were. (What happened? I got stupid.)

@Arjuna,

Arjuna;146717 wrote:

He would act like... oh let me learn from your great wisdom.... then he would start asking the simple questions that have the whole thing unraveling.

I think this issue is a good reason for a young person to keep a diary. Decades later you might be astounded at how wise you were. (What happened? I got stupid.)

But, remember, Plato scripted the dialogue. It probably wasn't so easy in real life. I can think of a number of objections to Socrates that Plato did not put into the mouths of the other participants in the dialogues.

@Deckard,

Is not humility great wisdom in itself? True humility, hard to hold, necessitates being wiser than one knows. Doesn't it?

@wayne,

We have plenty of turns of phrase docementing just that, such as, 'from the mouths of babes' .

@Deckard,

It appears a balancing act, which requires a continued seeking.
Not possible to be wiser than one knows for long.

@wayne,

wayne;146727 wrote:

Is not humility great wisdom in itself? True humility, hard to hold, necessitates being wiser than one knows. Doesn't it?

Socrates was anything but humble. He wasn't even being humble when he said that he, at least, knew more than anyone else.

@Deckard,

I all-ways pretended to be a blond. It's supprising how much people tell you...

@Deckard,

Is what you know or dont what makes you wise or not?

Is a wise man only as wise by what wisdom he can teach?

Is wisdom structured? structure?

Is wisdom cognative? conductive? retractive?

Can foolishness be taught? unknown?

Is there natural wisdom?

Is wisdom more knowledge? less?

Is wisdom only that which is proofed?

How can one think they are more or less wise than themselves, than wisdom?

Can you be wise to wisdom?

Which means a fool can be wise and does not know it?

We must all know that that which is wisdom does not make wise.

I think you are asking, is to be wise a reflex or an entrainment?

And if both, can you be more wise by being naturally gifted teacher and pupil? maybe just naturally gifted with one but try double hard with the training?

@sometime sun,

Yes. The moment you realize it is called an Aha-:bigsmile:Erlebniss.

@kennethamy,

kennethamy;146689 wrote:

But aren't there degrees of wisdom? And might not a particular degree of wisdom be associated with not realizing that you are as wise as you are?

Yes, I think so and I think that the one who knows oneself to be wise is wiser than the one who is wise without knowing it. The former has a wiser degree of wisdom than the later.

@Deckard,

Deckard;146990 wrote:

Yes, I think so and I think that the one who knows oneself to be wise is wiser than the one who is wise without knowing it. The former has a wiser degree of wisdom than the later.

You think Wisdom is like IQ ? Easy to quantify ? IMO Wisdom not only depends on the person, but also on the cicumstances like locality, age, sex, daily life and contact with other sources of Wisdom.

IMO a pygmee in his natural habitat can be foolish and wise and anything in between.
I, with my western wisdom, would die quickly as a fool in the dessert. Or a Pondfish in Sophia's Kitchen...

@Deckard,

Deckard;146552 wrote:

It's a sort of compliment "You are wiser than you know." but is it even possible? Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi comes to mind of course. "Out of the mouths of babes" is a more backhanded version of the same compliment.

It goes without saying that one can be a bigger fool than one thinks one is; indeed perhaps fools always think themselves wiser than they are.

But it would seem somehow unwise to think oneself less wise than one is. Such a condition lacks the certainty and the confidence that I associate with wisdom.

Though I don't wish to subtract from the wisdom of those who are naively wise, I think they would be all the more wise if they were aware of their wisdom.

Agree? Disagree?

I fully agree with the nature of the topic, many geniouses hasn't been reconized in their own lifetime, but redeculed and refuded.

The majority of people are sorely ignorent and resort to ridecule what they can't relate to and/or don't understand/comprehend.

@HexHammer,

My question would be if we are able to recognize wisdom;how you measure it properly ? Like IQ test are faulty / biased toward western culture, so could many of our definitions be.

@Pepijn Sweep,

Pepijn Sweep;151713 wrote:

My question would be if we are able to recognize wisdom;how you measure it properly ? Like IQ test are faulty / biased toward western culture, so could many of our definitions be.

I suppose we could count our scars :bigsmile:

@Deckard,

Deckard;146552 wrote:

It's a sort of compliment "You are wiser than you know." but is it even possible? Socrates and the Oracle of Delphi comes to mind of course. "Out of the mouths of babes" is a more backhanded version of the same compliment.

It goes without saying that one can be a bigger fool than one thinks one is; indeed perhaps fools always think themselves wiser than they are.

But it would seem somehow unwise to think oneself less wise than one is. Such a condition lacks the certainty and the confidence that I associate with wisdom.

Though I don't wish to subtract from the wisdom of those who are naively wise, I think they would be all the more wise if they were aware of their wisdom.

Agree? Disagree?

i agree... as our knowledge grows, we use our intelligence more, the more we become wise,

when we were just young, we just use our intelligence on what we naturally know like crawling,eating crying, but when we were given toys, we learn to play with it, we gain more knowledge and we use our intelligence more...

if you have more knowledge on that part, you become more wise on that part, you may be wise at ethics but not on meta-physics or vice-versa, you may be more great in mathematics but not on philosophy...

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