A polymath is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today’s standards. Leonardo da Vinci is regarded as an archetypal "Renaissance Man" and is one of the most recognizable polymaths.
However, when wikipedia refers to the list of polymaths there are very few polymaths from the recent times. Herbert Simon is the most recent polymath, but unfortunately he is no more.
Then I came across FT’s book review "The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It" by Joshua Cooper Ramo. Two words that I picked up there were “growing complexity” and “ceaseless newness”, the issues of the modern world and I asked – “does it stop you from being a polymath ?”
Further how do you define a polymath in the modern world. A person with multiple certifications and degrees from same or varied disciplines or a person with ability to create many things.
The modern world measures your intelligence and expertise by the grasp of reproducable knowledge or by the original thinking and original creations.
The modern world means mass-anything, is your expertise then dependant or acquiring the stuff that mass already has or even if you align towards a particular niche is it still a subset of a mass.
While these thoughts were colliding together in my mind, I came across this question on Ask MetaFilter – Is it possible to be a polymath these days?
Here’s the capture of some of the comments and my arguements or viewpoints with the those comments:
The body of human knowledge has grown too large for any single person to master it. The traditional "rennaissance man" was able to do that because the body of knowledge at the time was far smaller. – Class Goat
The body of knowledge will always be greater and overwhelming with the current context of that society. If one is a polymath it doesn’t imply that he has conquered all the possible existing body of knowledge. The following comment puts it nicely and also talks about distinction between the polymath and the jack of all trades.
Well, I guess it comes down to definitions. I would say that a polymath need not be deeply versed in every field of human knowledge, only have significant competence in a large number disciplines. Today’s average first-world citizen enjoys considerably more freedom, opportunity, and leisure to pursue such expertise than most people living during the Renaissance. (The fact that they mainly choose to watch TV is unfortunate.)
Others might argue that my definition draws too fine a line between the polymath and the jack-of-all-trades. Perhaps. I can paint a portrait, write a sonnet, play a very competitive game of chess, code in a variety of programming languages, compose a melody, build a pin-hole camera and develop the pictures, write a novel, and build a fine wood table. I’m not saying I’m exceptionally gifted at any one of those things. While I can do them competently, I’ll never be remembered as a poet with a capital "P" or design the next internet.
There are very few people alive today who can be the best of the best in multiple, unrelated disciplines. You will find few individuals who are simultaneously Nobel Prize worthy Physicists, Pulitzer caliber journalists, and gold medal winning cyclists. But, compared to the Renaissance, I’m not sure there are any fewer of them either.
But in short, the conclusion is, the question didn’t get any answers on – is it possible to be a polymath these days or there are any recent example of a polymath. if you come across any, please put it in the comments or tweet with me on this topic http://twitter.com/santoshmaharshi
Image : Wikipedia
