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Sounds like an interesting enough bloke, but I find the article's framing of him to be exasperating. Knew everything? Truly? So he could hold forth at length o
by nkoren 9y ago
Sounds like an interesting enough bloke, but I find the article's framing of him to be exasperating.
Knew everything? Truly? So he could hold forth at length on the philosophy of Zhuang Zhou or Nagarjuna, or the history of the Mayan Empires or the Tokugawa shogunate? Somehow I very much doubt it. Doubtless he was a considerable polymath within the confines of one particular cultural frame of reference -- but by that standard, there are people living in uncontacted tribes in the Amazon who "know everything" today.
- komali2 9y agoI mean, haven't read the biography, but the first thing I thought of was the trades. Does he know how to forge an iron sword? A steel one? Can he build a table? What about a boat? Does he know how to sail? Does he know how to turn wheat and yeast into bread? Does he know every recipe, ever? Does he know how to fertilize a field? Even then there were highly specialized "careers," to the point that you had the title in your surname.