Word: ruskinism
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Generally, teachers suggest a mixture of humility and enthusiasm as the proper attitude towards learning. John Ruskin, a Victorian critic of society and art, wrote that we ought to be extremely careful when reading not to impose our own opinions on the material. Too many people tend to read their own feelings and beliefs into books. The result is that we end up learning a bit more about ourselves, but we never get to hear from the authors themselves. If we want to get at the real learning in the book, we ought to study each word's meaning precisely...
...will balk at these suggestions. They will tell us that the author has long since dropped dead, that no amount of careful study of words will get us any closer to the author's original meaning and that we might as well cut our losses and learn about ourselves. Ruskin might respond that these folks are not only mistaken, but proud besides. They ought to know their places; they ought to read to hear what experts have...
This is the sort of thing that I was kicking around the back of my mind while writing my thesis. From time to time I would feel the need to read ethical teachings about scholarship. I looked up what the rabbis said about learning Torah. I read Ruskin on reading. I read Samuel Johnson's essay "On Scholarship." I found these to be real pick-me-ups, my version of chugging espressos and popping Vivarin. The whole thesis process tends to be "meta" as it is, focusing as much attention on the experience of research and writing...
Visiting graduate schools this past week or two has given me a slightly different perspective on this question of the correct attitude to bring to one's reading and writing. At the end of the thesis writing process, I was pretty convinced by Ruskin. I kept telling myself: "you real small, Kant real big." I tried to listen carefully to what Kant was saying. Being weak, I was often tempted to make up what I thought he was saying. It seemed to me that I had some interesting idea that someone might have said, but with Ruskin in mind...
Even such a stodgy fellow as nineteenth-century social philosopher John Ruskin knew this to be the case. Roaming about London one night, Ruskin observed working-class entertainment and concluded that after a tough day at work, entertainment must be available to everyone...