and does this prove anything
2007-12-10 05:42:09 · 20 answers · asked by ISAIAH 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Not fair, as Mahatma Gandhi was a fairly great thinker, and apportioned his time to both solitary and social thinking.
"Gandhi, the Man: The Story of His Transformation," Eknath Easwarn, Ph.D., http://www.easwaran.org
Likewise, Plato, Kant, Husserl, Wittgenstein, Einstein, Whitehead, Plotinus, Jesus and Gautama were able to apportion their insightful and creative awareness both in solitary and social modes.
A few greater thinkers emphasize the solitary, e.g Schopenhauer, but many are more balanced. To be totally unbalanced in the "social butterfly" or "soap opera" mode is quite unusual, for great thinking, as well.
You might enjoy "Creation: Artistic and Spiritual," O. M. Aivanhov, "Climb the Highest Mountain," Mark Prophet, and "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton, as examples of thinkers both creative and balanced, and Ruth Nanda Anshen's "Biography of an Idea" as an entertaining example of the life of the mind.
cordially,
j.
2007-12-10 07:52:54 · answer #1 · answered by j153e 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The mind, closed and mean or open and as vast as the imagination and intellect will alllow. A strong firm, steadfast resolute mind, positive thinking contributes to a strong, firm heart and body. The mind is the central system operating and controlling the body. The heartbeat gives forth life top th mind, without which the mind would cease to function, in the absence of oxygenation. The heart and brain can be kept in laboratories an artificial apparatus but it would not be called living, and considered a heinous evil and sin. Yes a strong heart surges forth blood through relaxed dilated muscles and veins, sending masses of oxygen to invigorate and work the mind at optimum with minimum applied effort. A heart is greatly debilitated by a weak stressed mind, and withers and hardens. A brain that isn't receiving stimulus, and nutrients will not perform well. I would conclude the heart and brain are inter-propagating. Sustaining and strengthening one another, ceasing to function upon the others demise. The brain is the greater power for it has spirit. The heart is controlled by the brain, the brain has the Spirit of imagination. The heart is an organ requiring stimulus from the same said to be motivated or aroused. Brain is victorious. Heart close second.
2016-04-08 06:06:38 · answer #2 · answered by Janet 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definitely and absolutely not. Take the Enlightenment, for example; Isaac Newton, John Locke, Voltaire, Diderot, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith... these guys were all a part of what was called a "republic of letters." The key to their success was the exchange of ideas, debates on important issues, and the elimination of censorship. This was not achieved by solitude.
Closer to our own age, take Einstein: he was a very public figure, and if not for his active and very public work, along with the work of other like-minded great minds, none of his accomplishments in physics would have amounted to much.
I could go on and on on this topic. Karl Marx. Martin Luther. Nietzsche. Leonardo da Vinci. Socrates. Aristotle. Thomas Aquinas. Ghandi. Petrarch. Erasmus. Thomas More. Oppenheimer. Bill Gates. etc. etc. None of these people were solitary figures. It would definitely be unfair to claim that the greatest thinkers of all time were solitary figures, because it simply is not true. There are more exceptions to that rule that examples that support it.
2007-12-10 05:58:09 · answer #3 · answered by Mr. Taco 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
"Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius” - Gibbon.
It's fair to say that many spent long hours in solitary pursuit of their goals. Does that mean that they were solitary? Depends upon the definition. None of them were solitary in the sense that the excluded the need to take in ideas or concepts from others - in fact, quite the opposite was true. Without exception - as per Newton - all genius has, to a large extent, stood on the shoulders of others. That suggests team work - not solitary activity.
2007-12-10 09:16:38 · answer #4 · answered by Michael B 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Do you know myers-briggs?
I = introversion... i.e. self motivation.
This is not necessarily a solitary trait though but it is an indicator of someone who thinks outside the box...
Other traits of iNtuition / imagination and decision making based on Thinking / theories and principles means you are a 'rational' in the psychological sense though, so there is no linear correlation necessarily between intellect and loneliness... however, I think smart people are very often misunderstood by others as they tend to ask more / edgier / more fundamental questions, which means they are dangerous!
I think it was Plato who said something like, "if you are the last person in the world who is sane, everyone else will believe that you are the one who is crazy"
I hope that (in some way) helps!
2007-12-10 09:50:14 · answer #5 · answered by The Violator! 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's really hard to think great thoughts when you have someone yakking at you.
If you really want to get something done, turn off the noise and get off the computer.
Yes, I can understand WHY the great figures are mostly solitary. Even the ones who were married had periods in which they had absolute quiet. For instance, Gandhi spent a lot of time in prison. His wife was also in prison, but it was a different prison. He had time to think.
2007-12-10 06:05:29 · answer #6 · answered by loryntoo 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, it probably would not be fair to say. Walt Whitman was positively gregarious; Heraclitus loved a crowd; Freud did his best thinking in dialogue with someone else; Marx was not a loner, either, but a committee-joiner from way back; da Vinci was a social butterfly...
2007-12-10 05:50:09 · answer #7 · answered by snowbaal 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Great thinkers study? IN libraries? Rather than go shopping or watching reality tv?
2007-12-10 05:45:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, and they probably burned joss sticks! Which only goes to prove that we just can't think straight if we're constantly in the presence of the rattle and smell of humanity!
2007-12-10 05:47:28 · answer #9 · answered by uknative 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It would be fair.
People of great minds are often searching for an equal or somebody better than them. Constantly they would be disappointed, so they avoid people all together. At least that is my logic on it.
2007-12-10 05:46:21 · answer #10 · answered by ljv 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋