It came to me as a very late surprise, more than four decades in the making. After years of arguing with colleagues, teachers, friends and students, I finally realized that the business of knowledge is a conservative business. I use the term “business” somewhat loosely, as we might do so when saying “funny business” but even the cash and carry part of the knowledge business is a conservative enterprise. Whether it’s the thousand year old buildings in Oxford and Paris (or the burnt down remnants in Nalanda) or the traditions of scholarship that trace the history of one’s work in footnotes dating back to Plato, the world of knowledge pays homage to the eternal.
Knowledge without Proof: Newsletter 43
Knowledge without Proof: Newsletter 43
Knowledge without Proof: Newsletter 43
It came to me as a very late surprise, more than four decades in the making. After years of arguing with colleagues, teachers, friends and students, I finally realized that the business of knowledge is a conservative business. I use the term “business” somewhat loosely, as we might do so when saying “funny business” but even the cash and carry part of the knowledge business is a conservative enterprise. Whether it’s the thousand year old buildings in Oxford and Paris (or the burnt down remnants in Nalanda) or the traditions of scholarship that trace the history of one’s work in footnotes dating back to Plato, the world of knowledge pays homage to the eternal.