I was thinking about a quote of unknown origin that is attributed to different people, but most often Eleanor Roosevelt. There are different version of it, but one of the most popular ones seems to be-- Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people. After some consideration, I thought that the difference here is in levels of abstraction. Superficially, one might consider people to be relatively concrete insomuch as one can point to a human being, to their body, and be referring to a physical thing that one can have experience of. An event may be somewhat more abstract. We might be able to point to an event while it is taking place, have experience of some events, but depending on the event and its complexity it may require more prior knowledge to understand what it is. Additionally, many events have components or are completely composed of that which cannot be perceived directly. An idea is naturally abstract. One cannot point to it, it exists only in the mind. If this is so, can we say that this quote is true? Does contemplating more abstract concepts make someone a greater mind or perhaps more intelligent than those who do not?
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 19:59:21 +0000
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