Erudition - what kind of concept is this? Raising the erudition is possible?

Many people say: "Erudition is very important!" But they do not really understand what phenomenon is behind this concept. We'll figure this out today.

The width and depth of erudition

As always, we start with the definition. And then not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. Because under erudition can be understood as broad, but shallow knowledge, and deep education, when a person understands the subject comprehensively. The meaning of the word "erudition", like any other, depends on the context. Yes, it is important to remember that the depth of any knowledge is relative.

Education and erudition: the relationship of concepts

An educated person can be an erudite, but education does not always imply a broad and profound erudition. For example, there is a design engineer, and he knows everything about his work, but almost nothing is interested, except for her, because the rest of the world has nothing to do with him. Who can say that the engineer is a dark and uneducated person? No one. However, he can hardly be called an erudite.

So what is erudition? This is a broad awareness of different fields of knowledge. As we have already understood, erudition can be deep and shallow. The main feature is that it is accumulated by a person independently, by self-education, i.e. Reading books. Erudition and erudition are almost synonymous.

If we leave aside the people of the writers (writers, journalists and philologists) for whom book education is an indispensable tool for work, in other cases the scholar is an ascetic of non-utilitarian knowledge, which, perhaps, he absolutely does not need in everyday activities. Reading books and automatically recruiting erudition is only a way to dilute the prose of life.

Curving the topic of education and erudition, one must say: a person with education is not always erudite, but a scholar is always an educated person.

Joseph Brodsky as an example of fantastic erudition

Nobel laureate in literature, of course, is suitable for illustration in this case.

Iosif Alexandrovich did not receive any higher education, he left school in 9th grade. From that time he was engaged exclusively in self-education. But if you take the trouble and read the book "Dialogues with Joseph Brodsky" by Solomon Volkov, you can be sure that Brodsky's erudition is boundless and profound. True, it mainly concerns literature, the Russian language, philosophy - humanitarian disciplines. He is not an encyclopedist, as one might think. Yes, and knowledge is so much now that in one area you can drown in the information sea. In other words, to the question whether erudition is what it is, you can answer metaphorically: "This is Joseph Brodsky." But everyone has their own heroes and examples. Now let's look at the problem from a practical point of view.

How to increase erudition?

Especially it is impossible to become well-read, but here the main thing is to start. Grow in your heart at least one fiery passion. At everyone it can be the. Examples here lead useless. The main thing is to be interested in something with all your heart. Impatient readers will ask: "Is there an increase in erudition?" Answer: "Yes." But only in the event that a person loves knowledge unselfishly, and not to achieve extraneous purposes.

For example, a teenager wants to like girls, so with nauseating scrupulousness he studies the immortal creations of Paulo Coelho, to talk about something with the young ladies, more correctly, to start a conversation, of course, at ease. It's unlikely that something will come out of such erudition. Because a person is not possessed by a passion for knowledge.

So, erudition stands on three pillars:

1. Love for development.
2. Love of reading.
3. Love for knowledge without any purpose.

The last item needs clarification. If knowledge has a definite purpose, then sooner or later it will exhaust itself, and the erudite is a person who absorbs knowledge for the sake of pleasure. Erudition is a kind of intellectual hedonism. The last fact is important to remember.