the early Greeks on polymathy, part 1

We’ve now discussed Heraclitus to death here. But what did the other Greeks think about polymathy? It turns out that lots of them had an opinion, although it’s still pretty unclear as to exactly what they meant by it.

Some of them were in favor of it.

For example, Hesiod, one of Heraclitus’s polymaths, said, “Far best is he who knows all things himself.”

Solon, the first great Athenian politician and one of the famed Seven Sages of Greece, was known for having said that “he grew old ever learning many things.” You may have heard of the term “solon.” It is a somewhat disused term for a local politician.

And Cleobulus, another of the Seven Sages, said, “Know many things rather than know nothing.”

Others were against it. Aeschylus, one of the great early Greek playwrights, wrote, “Not he who knows many things is wise, but he who knows what is profitable.”

Hippo of Samos, an early Greek philosopher, was quoted as having said, “Nothing is more empty than much learning (polymathy) – nothing more vain and useless."

And the famed pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus had a lot to say on the subject:

• “Many who have much learning (polymathy) have no intelligence.”
• “One should cultivate much intelligence (or an understanding of many things), not much learning (polymathy).”
• “Do not wish to learn everything, lest you become ignorant in everything.”

Back to Heraclitus, and Hesiod

Remember that the philosopher Heraclitus created the word polymathy. He said, “Much learning (i.e., polymathy) does not teach understanding. For it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras, and also Xenophanes and Hecataeus.”

What did he mean by that? And who were those guys?

As I wrote in the PopMatters article, we don’t know anymore what Heraclitus’s actual definition of polymathy was, but knowing who those other guys were might help us figure out what he meant by polymathy.

Hesiod was a great early Greek poet. In fact, he was considered the second great early poet, after Homer. Hesiod lived around 700 B.C.E., and his most famous works (that we know about) are Theogony and Works and Days. Poets were very important people in those days. The early Greeks considered them to be the authoritative source of history, the gods, astronomy, farming, and other useful information. They were considered to be fountains of wisdom. Thus, Heraclitus, like most or all of the other Greeks in his era, presumably thought of Hesiod as knowing everything (or almost everything). So Hesiod represents perhaps the classic definition of polymathy, knowing many subjects.

More on the others later.