In general, I can think of two reasons why a person would admire another: 1. The "banner carrier". Person B represents values congruent to those cherished by person A and is looked up to as a mouthpiece of sorts. In other words, the admiration stems from approbation. An example might be how I admire Bill Watterson for being so uncompromising in his artistic values. 2. The "paragon". Person B represents values ostensibly beyond the reach of person A and is looked up to as as an idealized proxy. In other words, the admiration stems from envy. Maybe this can be read as Jesse James/Robert Ford level of sociopathy, lol. But in this context, I am talking like my admiration for the actress Sissy Spacek's effortlessly feminine effervescence, which I know I'll never have. (For the record, I know nothing of her personal values.) Of course, I realize that for all of us we likely admire others for both reasons. But I would be curious to know which way our tendencies lean in this regard? Do you find most of the persons you admire to be #1 or #2 cases? (If I have left out any reasons for admiring someone, please post it.)
Interesting question. I can think of examples of both in my life, but neither from really recently, like in the past year. But as for the paragon model, what I would say was different in my experience was that the individuals (more often fictional than not) that I admired like that, it wasn't so much envy as identification. They externally projected the kinds of traits that I felt of myself when I was alone, but that I did not show in public because I was so socially withdrawn. In a way, they overlapped into the banner carrier category, because the personalities they expressed were an extension of an attitude towards life. It makes perfect sense that these people could only exist in fiction.
^ You bring up the good point that I had failed to mention in my OP, although it was on the "tip of my brain": that the two models frequently overlap. For instance, Beethoven is, for me, basically god. Artistically, he represents everything I would ever like to be in an artist--profound, intense, passionate, uncompromising, ecumenical, etc.. Yet, I would be dishonest to omit that I envy his talents tremendously. Even if I were as awesomely dedicated and immersed in my art as he was in his, I could never hope to produce anything in my entire body of work as wonderful as a single chord from his Ninth Symphony. *sigh*
I don't really admire anyone. We human beings are so flawed that it's impossible for me to feel admiration for anyone, specially people I don't know thoroughly. If someone "appears" to be great on any aspect of life I admire what he/she does or have done about that, not him/her as a person. For instance, I admire how Pelé played football, but I don't admire Pelé. I admire some of the music of The Cure, but I don't admire The Cure nor any of its members. If someone wants me to admire him/her, she must prove that he/she's better than me. But I don't think there is someone better than me (some really bad people are worse than me, most people are just as valuable as me, not more nor less). Or at least it's impossible for them to prove it, because we never know everything about anybody. All this said, it's obvious that admiration for me works like the second option, the paragon as you call it, and that's the very reason why I don't admire anyone xD
