Fox Or Hedgehog—Which One Are You?
In a famous essay, philosopher Isaiah Berlin quotes the Greek poet Archilochus: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” We’re having a fun conversation on Twitter about which creature is better, and which one we identify with—come join! Click here to follow me and be part of the exchange.
Buddhism seems to make do with one big thing, call it truth, wisdom, the jewel at the heart of the lotus. Present cultures, esp. western civilization require a diversified mind and a broad horizon to be prepared for the unexpected, aka the future. So it’s probably up to us what’s more useful, depending on whether we care how society, civilization and mankind will fare, or if we are content with our own spiritual awakening, aka the one big thing. Except, of course, that everything which might lead us astray from our own spiritual awakening, will only stall mankind’s progress on that same way, which seems most likely to me
Both/And. There is a current buzz in business about “T-Shaped” people, who know a little about a lot and a lot about a little. Seems like a trend. I think you’re on to something with “learning smarter.” As more young people learn to learn smarter, I wonder if we’ll see more polymaths and more integration among previously separate fields of study. A friend’s daughter who just finished her freshman year at Cornell is pre-med, majoring in geographic sociology with a plan to enter the Public Health field.
My former UK prof used to call this the dilemma of “knowing more about less & less” OR “less about more & more”. Its an open Q – for example I know a surgeon who was a well known specialist in corrective surgery on fingers of pediatric patients – thats a niche. We need people like him as we do polymaths. Your choice, your interests and where your curiosity takes you…more or less.
In software business (I am a designer work for Adobe) – I always see that young designers use a variety of tools and features. Over time this gets less and less. They have their personal faves and use these repeatedly to tell better stories or create better solutions faster, not create more effects. But again, there may come a time when they need to start and learn something totally anew and branch out…