The Case for Curiosity
By William Marion
On a shelf in my study is a book with a Nevada Humanities bookmark titled The Way Things Work: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Technology. It includes about 300, two-page descriptions of things we take for granted, and which we generally know little about except for the fact that we know they work. I read one excerpt every day – hence, the bookmark. Today, I read about clocks and watches; a couple of weeks ago the topic was steam engines. It’s a pretty eclectic book.
So why a humanities bookmark? Because I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as useless knowledge, and that every thing we learn – from history, science and technology; from art, music and literature or from anthropology, politics and sociology – impacts how we perceive, how we reflect, how we self-identify, and how we communicate. Every new fact, every new text and every new perception has the ability to color significantly how we interpret the world and how we interpret our roles in the world.
This is obliquely echoed in one of my favorite lines of poetry from Wallace Stevens: “I don’t know which to prefer/The beauty of inflections/Or the beauty of innuendos/The blackbird whistling/Or just after.”
This is the age old enigma, posited by Plato, amplified by Descartes, disputed by Sartre: Where does truth and beauty lie – in experience or in reflection, in the moment or in the essence. Or in true dialectical fashion (thank you Kant and Hegel), is it both and hence, all three? Even the most seemingly mundane moment can induce lofty thoughts. As Alice might say, “Curiouser and Curiouser.”
And that, indeed is the point. The humanities encourages us to revel in our own curiosity: to explore, to investigate, to imagine, and to create. In the process, we learn empathy, we honor perspectives other than our own, and we celebrate compassion, understanding, and perhaps even transcendence. These are noble goals. Curiosity did not kill the cat; it was the lack thereof that did the little bugger in.
Double Down blogger image courtesy of Williaim Marion
William Marion is the Chair of the Nevada Humanities Board of Trustees.
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