Polymathy is nowadays used to talk about wide-ranging curiosity, about having multiple skills, even if they are easily acquired skills like certified nail technician, or about doing variations of the same thing, for example singing different genres of music.
That is different from how the term polymathy was used in the past, in other words from traditional polymathy. Historian of knowledge and author Peter Burke gives a simple definition of traditional polymathy and says that polymathy is the mastery of at least three academic disciplines and contribution to at least one of those disciplines.
Compared to the past, today’s polymathy has been diluted in two main ways:
- Its definition has been expanded to include non-academic areas such as sports, acting, and singing.
- Its standards have been lowered: it is no longer necessary to be an expert in a field, it is enough to have beginner level knowledge in it.
I don’t know if polymathy will continue to be diluted or if it will return to mean academic excellence in multiple areas and practical contributions, but I don’t worry about it since it’s not something I can control.
What I can control is my own interpretation of polymathy and the standards I set for myself when I say I want to be a polymath, and these standards are the ones of traditional polymathy. I’m sure there are other people who have the same standards and, for those people, I want Polymathy Lab to be a place of:
- inspiration
- encouragement
- community, and
- practical, high quality resources.
The website is still under construction, but, instead of waiting until it is organized and polished, I decided to publish it as is and let it grow as I grow. I hope you still find it useful.
Thank you for being here. May your own polymathy experiments be fun and fulfilling.