If wisdom comes with age...?

Question

If wisdom comes with age, and it is generally accepted that people become more conservative as they get older, then aren't conservatives wise?

"If at 20 you are not liberal, you have no heart. If at 40 you are not conservative, you have no brain."
There are good points in this quote. It is not good to lean too far to the left or to the right.

It is true that wisdom doesn't come only with age, but in order to go through life experiences, time must pass. A person will have gone through more at the age of 60 than he or she did at the age of 20.

Obviously my question is much more simply stated than the issue involved, but I'm curious to see what kind of answers I get. There are some very good answers to some different views.

Answer 1

If you were to use that logic than yes, I would assume that conservatives are wise, But.... (theres always a but), Its true to a certain extent but life isn't THAT simple.That a very narrowminded view, because it doesnt work both ways. Just becuase one is conservative doesn' mean they are wise. Wisdom does come from age but also experience, yet people have a tendency to experience an event completely different from the next. With so many variations whos to say one man is wiser than the next. Different experiences play a strong role in ones outllook on life. but doenst make a person nessesarily wise. There are people out there who are old (and senial)... does that make them wise? Hell no, it makes them crazy...

Answer 2

My Friend, you are attempting to exploit word-logic to win a political stand. This has the same value of attempting to employ politics to win a philosophical point of view. Otherwise, you won’t be applying this sort of logic. The conservatives are wise. OK. What’s the problem with that? Why do you feel it requires affirmation? And even if your statements were proven right, it does not entail that republicans are not wise. Proving that a lion eats meat does not entail that a wolf does not.
Reverse logic is illogical too:
A driver + A car= 2.
Does that entail that, 2=A driver+ A car always?
Nothing in this world of continuous change is a perfectly unique clear cut that does not share some of its aspects with some other thing or things in the universe.
So, the statement 'wisdom comes with age' ... does not necessarily mean it does not come at earlier stages in your life, nor does it necessarily mean that every aged person becomes wise. A man I know very well got married to a 22-year old virgin when he was 76, and they had 4 children within the first 7 years of their marriage.
Was THAT wise?

Answer 3

I am almost 50. I am not a conservative. I am fair and I am open minded. I wouldn't call myself a liberal either. Maybe a fence sitter than jumps on one side or the other depending on the situation. A moderate. I think conservatives are often romantics and romantics are people who do not like change. Change is inevitable. Progress must exist. I am wise because I have seen and heard much and experienced more. I like my age. I still have beauty because I care about myself, but I look to be in my late 30's, thank goodness, so people take me seriously enough. I also keep my mouth shut unless I really have something to say and when I do say something, I say it with logic and reason. I believe in the first amendment rights. I just also believe there are responsibilities to go along with them. It's a fine line to balance. Not everyone can be treated the same, although you'd like to think so, because every situation is different and all people's minds think different, but everyone can be treated fairly given their situation. The picture to the left is 5 months old.

Answer 4

Keep in mind - as Dick Morris has concluded - that the United States is slowly becoming more leftist. So you aren't going to find many friends and supporters in here.

That being stated...

A moderately conservative focus is one that embraces personal responsibility for one's actions while also striving to ensure that that accountability is not mistreated by others.

Wisdom does not automatically come with age. There are many old fools out there.

I've known some.

However, your basic premise about many men and women becoming more conservative with age (without going to the far right) is quite true.

Many but not all outspoken liberals in their young adult years have eventually become conservative - much to the chagrin of those on the left. However, the reverse doesn't appear to happen very often. You don't hear about a young conservative becoming more liberal with age.

Of course, many on the far left will fight you to the death on this issue because they are opposed to any stance on the right and the implication that many are actually wiser from being conservative.

Regardless and in contrast to the leftist notion that all truth is relative and that we are therefore not held accountable for anything, we are indeed held accountable - as NDE research indicates - the truth is absolute, and it always comes out eventually.

Answer 5

Wisdom and experience are two different things. Not everyone is wiser as they get older.If you are trying to tie this into whether Republicans (generally thought of as Conservatives), are wiser because they are associated with older people, forget it.
It's a weak argument, sorry.
It is no more valid than saying all Democrats are Liberals.

Answer 6

Wisdom comes with age.And also is true that elders are conservative.Its cos they dont want the younger generations committ their mistakes/carry on experimentations and come to the same conclusions which they have come after yrs of struggle.Read what Sir Francis Bacon says on Youth and Age.

Answer 7

Check your premises. There is an illogical statement in your syllogism. Sorry, might be big words there. The fallacy in your premise is in the statement "it is generally accepted". Maybe perhaps, possibly "some people become more careful as they age." However becoming more careful does not coincide or relate to becoming more conservative.

Answer 8

Fear can also come with age.
And just because wisdom can come with age, it doesn't always.
People can be conservative for many reasons. And liberal.
I'm sure some conservatifves are wise. And I'm sure aren't.
People are all different.

Answer 9

Wisdom comes with reflection. I doubt the reflective capabilities of some Republicans because of their lack of empathy.

So, to revise your statement. Wisdom comes with reflection. Empathy is a result of reflection. Almost no republicans are wise.

And if you question the stunted empathic abilities of the average republican, I have two words for you "collateral damage."

Answer 10

It's more experiences in life that come with age, how you analyse, collate those, use them is probably what makes a person wise or not in the eyes of others

All the best!
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