Post by jabinkhatun907 on Jan 11, 2024 6:00:52 GMT -5
Adecline of polymaths and in fact what attracted me to the subject was what I consider to be their heroic resistance to specialization a rearguard action against what seems to be an inevitable trend. And yes you are very right there are numerous specialists who do not consider polymaths as true scholars and classify actually are at least in certain areas of knowledge but not all. I believe in this sense that what is needed is not conflict but cooperation between specialists and generalists the word with which the polymath Lewis Mumford designated his main activity.
In this sense I think it is important to say that what we previously called the division of intellectual labor has accelerated as much as the division of labor itself in general terms. This process had an impact since the 19th century on university spaces. Universities began Philippines WhatsApp Number Data to divide into more and more faculties or departments and this meant that students received a specialized education rather than a general education which was what happened in universities until the 18th century. However a paradox occurs. An era of excessive specialization requires polymaths. They are absolutely necessary because they can see the big picture but it is increasingly difficult to find them and one of the fundamental reasons for this process is that they are losing their social niche.
Polymaths today swim against the tide. Certainly I do not argue against specialization but rather against hyperspecialization which can produce a certain intellectual myopia. Fortunately I believe there are remedies for this situation. One of them is the development of advanced study centers that offer various researchers the possibility of spending a year without classes a fact that as has already been demonstrated gives them time to think reflect and write but also to connect with researchers from other disciplines. This is for example the case of the Princeton Institute for Advanced.
In this sense I think it is important to say that what we previously called the division of intellectual labor has accelerated as much as the division of labor itself in general terms. This process had an impact since the 19th century on university spaces. Universities began Philippines WhatsApp Number Data to divide into more and more faculties or departments and this meant that students received a specialized education rather than a general education which was what happened in universities until the 18th century. However a paradox occurs. An era of excessive specialization requires polymaths. They are absolutely necessary because they can see the big picture but it is increasingly difficult to find them and one of the fundamental reasons for this process is that they are losing their social niche.
Polymaths today swim against the tide. Certainly I do not argue against specialization but rather against hyperspecialization which can produce a certain intellectual myopia. Fortunately I believe there are remedies for this situation. One of them is the development of advanced study centers that offer various researchers the possibility of spending a year without classes a fact that as has already been demonstrated gives them time to think reflect and write but also to connect with researchers from other disciplines. This is for example the case of the Princeton Institute for Advanced.