A Brill Calendar: February 15

Galileo and the Nature of Learning

Few socio-cultural constellations surpass the longevity of universities.

Other facets of the Middle Ages, such as monastery schools, feudal systems, and medieval guilds – both of merchants and crafts - have gone, but the university is still with us. And while all associations intend to provide mutual aid and protection - fostering shared interests and encouraging individuals involved in them - universities have extra qualities. They are like people: they become and remain themselves by changing; almost all the time, imperceptibly. A scholar comparing Leyden University after the first four years of existence with the same ‘Alma Mater’ after her first four centuries, would have great doubts whether the object of comparison is still true to her own self.

Attaining knowledge – of all kinds and about everything – is a necessity to mankind. And it is not surprising that this attainment of knowledge of things - visible and invisible - was realized in a diversity matching the geographical distribution of Homo Sapiens sapiens. Where writing & reading crept into existence because of its usefulness for privileged minorities, the acquisition of knowledge came with an immensely widened perspective. Above the ageless base of orality, literacy was superimposed.

Before the 20th century it is seldom that the idea of the university is pondered in this light. The great satirist Kurt Tucholsky advised: ‘Keep it short, keep it short: start with the Egyptians’. On February 15 it’s possible to keep it even shorter. On that calendar-day Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. When he died January 8, 1642 his experimental methodology and a determinism he helped to create set a new standard for all academic pursuits, not only in star-gazing and physics. ‘Research’ as it is understood in our technology-driven days was hardly known at European universities during the first half of their existence.