George Steiner, a certain idea of knowledge.

George Steiner:

Our world is shrinking. Science is becoming inaccessible to us. Who can understand the latest innovations in genetics, astrophysics and biology? Who can explain them to the profane? Knowledge no longer communicates; writers and philosophers in our day are incapable of enabling us to understand science. At the same time, the scope of imagination in science is dazzling. How can we claim to speak of human consciousness if we overlook what is most daring and imaginative? I am concerned by what it means to be literate today. Is it possible to be literate if you do not understand non-linear equations?

What is the mystery that triggers creation? I wrote Grammars of Creation to understand it. But at the end of my life, I still don’t understand.

If that knocked your socks off, take a look at our next cool topic, Thinking About Thinking. And if you want to peruse all of the previous sock-knocking blog entries, visit the Knocked My Socks Off archive. (links to another blog site)

from: Cerf, Juliette. George Steiner, a certain idea of knowledge. Translated from the French by Mark McGovern. Presseurop 30 Dec 2011. https://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/1320071-george-steiner-certain-idea-knowledge. Accessed 31 Jan 2012. Originally published as: Cerf, Juliette. George Steiner: L’Europe est en train de sacrifier ses jeunes. Télérama 12 décembre 2011. https://www.telerama.fr/idees/george-steiner-l-europe-est-en-train-de-sacrifier-ses-jeunes,75871.php.

Steiner G. Grammars of Creation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.