i don't understand this paradox?

Question

socrates: " I found the men in the most repute were all but the most foolish and that others less esteemed were really wiser and better"

Answer 1

He found men with the largest reputations were lesser than the men of lesser repuation.

I think there is a thinking that says that men not interested in the honest work of tilling the fields went into professions like teaching and politics. From that standpoint you see that many in the public eye are actually good at evading hard work and keeping themselves in a lucrative situation with words and ideas that are not based upon the life of the average person - thereby removing him from a general reality, as it were. So the person who seems worldly really knows very little about the actual world.

The people who are working and living and raising their families are generally too busy to worry about reputation or being in the public eye - but they have learned important things by life's lessons and develop a wisdom that is a wonderful thing. So the person who might seem common or to lead a simple life can have insights into life and relationships that are very interesting and important indeed.

That's what I say anyway!

Peace!

Answer 2

This is not a paradox. This is a saying. I believe it to mean that reputable people are honored for their reputation, not their brains. Whereas, the underrated ones were the ones that are wiser. This also means wisdom is not rated as it should be, as compared to popularity. Could that have been Socrates' problem?

Answer 3

In my case, I believe that what the author was saying was how people can sometimes think that a particular person is better or is "normal" just because they conformed to how society thinks they should live their life. But there are these men and women who are not afraid to live life, who are not afraid to go a little insane and who gives themselves permission to try out new ideas and become more interesting persons who lead full lives. They are shunned by society because they don't conform to that "normal" box and so, they are less esteemed. But they are wiser, knowing that in the end, real living is what matters. Take the case of people who made history. They surely weren't the apple of the eye of their contemporaries: Jesus, Gandhi, Buddha, Mandela., Einstein... a lot of them were considered dangerous and even too radical by many people in their times. They weren't celebrated back then and were persecuted but in the end, they were wiser and better and it is manifested in how they are revered and remembered in the present. I just think that in a nutshell, being yourself and living life the way you want it is the best thing to do but that makes people uncomfortable so they shun you, afraid that they may be forced to re-evaluate and break away from the routine of conformity. That's just my two cents worth, hope that helped. :)

Answer 4

Socrates was commenting on man's tendency to follow the crowd....something like peer pressure. An individual who tries to be popular and fit into the group often sacrifices his own ideas and morals so that he will have the "esteem" of the group. Sometimes, a person brave enough to think for himself is not popular, but he may be a wiser person.

Answer 5

The clock with the traveling twin, that measures out 10 years, is measuring out time precisely because of the fact the traveling twin reports it. no longer only will the clock have measured 10 years, yet that twin could have skilled 10 years of life with the help of the time he comes back, and could have elderly only 10 years to the different twin's two decades. each little thing that travels with him slows down. case in point, if he took with him a lump of decaying radioactive cloth and left an equivalent lump on earth, then while he have been given back, the single he left at the back of could have decayed farther than the single he took alongside. this is a real actual effect. this isn't any longer comparable to adjusting a clock for time zone return and forth, that's only finished for convenience and has no actual value.

Answer 6

It's not so much a paradox as it is ironic. One would think that reputable people would be wiser than others, but he found that they're actually fools.

Answer 7

just because one is rich and a part of the high society doesn't make them smarter.. He is saying that the men he met of high standings were all foolish and the others he met of standard living were the wiser. At least that's what I get from it.

Answer 8

This can mean many things and lead you to deduce many things;
1. Do not let praise go to your head, it can lead you to stop questioning.
2.Often those that are held in high regard are the least challenging individuals and those that are the least respected are so because they are the opposite.
3.Wisdom and an enquiring mind will not make you popular. Being an easy going sort will. At a cost to you.
4.Life is'nt fair to the wise, but it is wise to be fair in Life.

Answer 9

Sometimes people with a less important title or job happen to be the most intelligent. That's what I gathered from it.

Answer 10

that those men that are of the "highest esteem" (most education, highest political standing, or high social standing) tend to be of the lesser minds, while those that tend to be of a lesser social/economic/political standing tend to be more enlightened (more observant, more intelligent, and more intune)