Replying to LO27910 --
Dear Organlearners,
Andrew Campbell < ACampnona@aol.com > writes:
>Much reminded At, much reminded;-)
>
>"Men shall walk and not stir,
>they shall speak with those not present,
>they shall hear those who do not speak.
(snip)
>Leonardo da Vinci, manuscripts, CA 154 recto & CA 370 recto
Greetings dear Andrew,
Thank you for these prophetic quotations.
I am in danger of becoming too pedantic or even patronising. But I thought
it wise to write the following short note on Leanardo's seemingly
mysterious way of working:
Leonardo da Vinci was a genius. There is no doubt about it. What is even
more remarkable, is that he produced his work in an age where the weirdest
of speculations were made. To read some of these speculations, you may
take a look at < http://www.levity.com/alchemy/texts.html > Look at those
of the 16th century and earlier.
Few people in their studies of Da Vinci's works have noticed and even less
have studied how he actually learned. He is usually used as an example for
creativity rather than learning.
He had a strong contempt for speculations on "book knowledge" and
especially so when such speculations appeared in books as knowledge too. I
think that with "book knowledge" he might have tried to articulate what we
today will call information -- that which exists outside the mind and
which does not live within the mind like knowledge.
He was convinced that living knowledge is derived from sensations. Of the
five human sense organs he considered the eyes the most important to the
formation of knowledge. For him knowledge could be much better articulated
by pictures than text. Some say it was because his own handwriting was the
mirror image of normal writing. Nevertheless, he used text to explain
pictures rather than using pictures to explain text!
He was not merely interested in what he could discover self authentically.
He studied other mental arts such as mathematics, literature and
philosophy, but only that which made an appeal to his experiences pleased
him. He certainly acted as if he was sensitive to his own tacit knowledge.
But I could not ascertain whether he articulated in some or other way the
existence of this tacit knowledge like Michael Polanyi did more than 400
years later. Yet it seems that the two excerpts which you have quoted
indicate such an understanding.
I think that Da Vinci is a magnificent example of the authentic learner.
He has inspired innumerous people with his works, art and science. For
example, in them the young Goethe saw for the first time how his own
future would also unfold. Should Da Vinci ever have written his
philosophy, of which his works of art and science tell in pictures, I
think it would have been on wholeness.
Like Beethoven he always carried a sketch book with him in which he would
frequently scribble a drawing or an idea. Most people assume that they
scribbled their ideas immediately down so as not to forget them. But I
personally think that they were excercising their capacity for
articulating their tacit knowing.
Like Beethoven he became lonelier as he grew older. It is one thing to be
acclaimed as the great master, but another thing to be understood as a
fellow human. The knowledge of a great master after a long life of deep
learning appears as the curtain of mysticism to those learners whose lives
of learning have just begun. But it is mearly a large difference in
learning ages.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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