By Elliott Nace | Staff Writer
When the dust settles on a given period of history, a few key players always seem to rise. Politicians, philosophers and mathematicians — these great thinkers and their writings seem to blur the lines separating science from dialectic.
Polymaths, intellectuals whose knowledge and contributions to society draw on a wealth of disciplines, enter the public consciousness through their work. Shakespeare, Maimonides and the like are renowned for dabbling in all sorts of artistic mediums. Our Founding Fathers, namely Thomas Jefferson, brought his education in the Western Classics to the presidency.
The polymath archetype is nothing new and has not gone anywhere. The arts, sciences and understanding of the human person dictate our collegiate and professional studies today, and in many cases produce scholars who fit the description. But who are these polymaths, and where can we find them?
According to an article by Dr. Mandar Marathe, “Polymathy is an action, and not an attribute or quality. And the person who performs that action is a polymath, while they are performing it.”
The range of personalities and occupations that comprise this label attest to it ultimately being a way of life; Marathe details the holistic value of engaging in several different fields of study and practice, and how the benefits of polymathy trickle down into everyday life. No matter our professions, David Scharf wrote that “the math is always there.”
Even if the parameters of polymathy continue to expand, thanks in large part to the internet and increased efficiency of education, there is one ingredient currently lacking in our intellectual stew — notoriety.
One clear shift seen throughout the 20th century was the move away from docile neoclassicists’ aging sensibilities in favor of an ever-changing technological and ideological landscape. Modernity ushered in countless polymaths with a radical set of new skills, yet brought with it the need for specialists.
Specialty is not the enemy of polymathy, but rather a product of volatile times. Medicine, computers and literary critique all flourished a century ago and at such a volume that students needed to fully concentrate on a given area of expertise.
What did begin to chip away at the popularity of polymathy was the newfound fame following specialized breakthroughs. Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz needed to invoke every mathematical paradigm they had in their time. Conversely, a later scientist like Alexander Fleming was able to streamline prior work done in microbiology to assist his discovery of penicillin. More and more scholars began to stay within the world of critical research and therefore opted to interpret primary sources instead of writing their own.
The “big bands” dominating the worlds of jazz and blues morphed into the breakout “gods” of guitar-driven rock music. Televised sports immortalize the skills of many football and baseball players — people who we will always remember as exceptional, standalone athletes.
What changed is that fame became attached to the now. Great thinkers still change the world in more ways than one, but their observations lack the impact needed to stay relevant in a world where the individual breaks ground on a daily basis. Such a practical environment does not eliminate the need for broader thinking and instead gives us the challenge of taking up polymathy when looking at the bigger picture.
J.R.R. Tolkien, most famous for his high fantasy novels, also happened to be a philologist who created his own languages. So as long as we remember Mr. Tolkien for the sum of his pursuits, we will know who — and where — the polymaths are.
