The word erudition came into Middle English from Latin. A scholar is erudite (Latin eruditus) when instruction and reading followed by digestion and contemplation have effaced all rudeness, that is to say smoothed away all raw, untrained incivility.
Erudition is the depth, polish and breadth that is applied to education from further readings and understanding of literary works.
Before we proceed further though, I feel I should mention - that ‘using quotations is a lawyer’s excuse for an un-original mind’ – HA! HA! That was said by Laurence Olivier in a beautiful movie ‘Love Among the Ruins’ with Katherine Hepburn – made when they were both very late in their lives.
Perhaps then I should start with an original quotation of mine – just so I cannot be accused of having ‘un-original thoughts’ myself.
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . as Penny still slept on her cushions‘
So that done, let’s make a start – and find what erudition we can along the way.
| 'Error does not exist only in our own actions, of course, but is all around us . . . as Schultz notes, "even the most seemingly bullet-proof scientific theories of times past eventually proved wrong so we must assume that today's theories will someday prove wrong as well". . . . . . In science we can at least hope for some sort of improvement through the ages. We don't know everything yet but we know a lot more than we did a century ago. So, even though each new theory might one day be replaced, as Schultz reminds us, it is still closer to the truth than the one that came before. Rather than saying the latest theory is right, it might be more modest to say it is less wrong than the last one. But at least scientists tend to stand on their predecessor's shoulders and see further.' Michael Duffy 19 Feb 2011 Sydney Morning Herald reviewing 'Being Wrong' a book by Kathryn Schultz |
