Saturday, January 30, 2010

Comics on false authority, straight from Socrates


Via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereai.

This is a great examination how we often believe authority, even when if it false. A daily example of this in advertising, when some actor speaks on a subject he or she don't understand, or supports a product, to lend credibility and weight to it.

This was examined at length by Socrates, when he tried to understand why the Oracle of Delphi would consider him the smartest man. The answer was that it may be because he alone realizes he doesn't know everything, and that most other smart people mistakenly believe that because they are experts on one subject, they are also on other subjects.

1 comment:

  1. Well, it remind me of American Lincoln cult. Modern economist that try to claim some of his economic policies were stupid got the "He was a Great Man! He did Great Things!!!" response, specially from people who know nothig of economics.

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