by Waqas Ahmed
As a scientific scholar and professor of mathematics Bošković produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many advances in astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature. He is also known for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position and discovering the absence of atmosphere on the Moon. Bošković was also a renowned philosopher of science and a poet (his poems generally alluded to the intersections of religion and science) and a member of the Roman literary society Arcadia.
Revolutionaries
Being able to pursue multiple interests within establishment is one thing; but many polymaths in modern history actually led a major resistance against it, often paying a heavy price. Paul Robeson was one of the greatest American footballers of his time. Off the field, he was studying intensively at Law School and on graduating he began his career at a New York law firm. But being an athlete-lawyer was not enough. This young man was determined to pursue his childhood dream of a life on stage. After hustling a few shows while studying, his reputation as a bass singer began to grow. He would become one of the first to bring Spirituals (religious songs composed by enslaved African people in America) to the concert stage and his performance of the Ballad for Americans, an American patriotic cantata still widely associated with his voice, made him a national superstar.
He was equally talented as an actor and early performances in plays like The Emperor Jones earned him much acclaim. He went on to perform the title role in William Shakespeare’s Othello, for which he won the Spingarn Medal in 1945. He starred in the London and Broadway productions of Show Boat, and also acted in the 1936 film version. His rendition of Ol’ Man River in the film is still considered the finest interpretation of the song. He attracted the attention of British film producers, and his career scaled new heights when he played lead roles in a series of British box office hits including Song of Freedom and The Proud Valley.
Despite his glittering success, he felt a need to learn more. He was particularly interested in languages and linguistics. So in 1934 he enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he focused on Mandarin, Swahili and a variety of other African languages. An exceptionally fast learner, he would eventually become conversant in over 20 languages — making him one of the foremost polyglots of the twentieth century.
His study of the history and politics of African people together with his personal experiences of racial segregation enabled him to become one of the most trenchant critics of racism, colonialism and classism in the United States. He continued to travel the world — not just as an artist but now also as a campaigner for social justice. His socialist views and the colour of his skin meant that his own country would isolate him, even if he was one of the most multitalented men in modern American history.
Robeson believed in the complete self-actualisation of every human, regardless of race, class or gender. And he felt this was not possible under a capitalist system. Indeed, contrary to popular belief, original socialist thinking did not envisage an obedient, regimented populace but instead a system of egalitarianism that set the foundations for each individual to shine in their own unique way. Oscar Wilde in his famous essay The Soul of Man under Socialism insisted that a system based on private property can never allow for a rounded development of an individual or ‘the full expression of personality.’ He said that a system based on a ‘work for hire’ philosophy can only allow a small group of (financially secure) elite scholars and artists to flourish in their entirety. It creates a society where ‘man is absorbed by his possessions’ rather than himself.
Indeed, Marx himself believed in a ‘many-sided education’ and wrote that ‘in a Communist society there are no painters but only people who engage in painting among other activities.’ Perhaps this is what inspired many socialist revolutionaries worldwide, like Robeson, to exercise their many facets, almost as though it was in itself an act of resistance.
There have been many sociopolitical revolutions through history, often one power-hungry group replacing another. But real revolutions, ones representing slaves, peasants, minorities or colonial subjects, are essentially an organised struggle by the oppressed to replace a system enforced on them by their oppressors. Successful ones often cited in the modern era included the American, Haitian, French, Cuban, Russian and Iranian Revolutions. They were led by radical figures, usually liberals, anti-colonial nationalists and socialists, depending on the context.
The most celebrated modern Western revolution occurred in Paris in the late eighteenth century, led by liberals against the absolutist monarchy and inspired by the freethinking movement of the Enlightenment. Two of the French Enlightenment’s most prominent figures were not only revolutionaries in their own right, but also extraordinary polymaths. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk he faced the notoriously strict censorship laws of the time. Pierre Beaumarchais was considered by many historians to be one of the defining figures of the French Enlightenment as well as the Revolution. This is because Beaumarchais life — exemplary of the boundlessness of the French Enlightenment — was an adventurous one. He was a masterful watchmaker, musician to the French royal family, businessman, diplomat and spy during the American Revolution and then one of the most successful playwrights of his time.
Before Marxism was adopted as a basis for revolution in Russia, it gained currency in Europe, particularly in England. William Morris, inspired by Marx’s thinking and a friend of his daughter Eleanor, became one of the greatest socialist revolutionary activists in England. He began his career in the mid-eighteenth century as a Gothic revival architect before turning his attention to interior design. He rejected industrial manufacturing and pioneered the Arts and Craft Movement, calling for a return to traditional hand craftsmanship and the elevation of the artisan’s status to that of the artist. He became a pattern designer for wallpapers, ceramic tiles, stained glass, textiles and other interior decorations and also gained an expertise in textile weaving, dying, printing and embroidery. He was also a recognised oil painter, although his only surviving easel painting La Belle Iseult is exhibited at London’s Tate Gallery.
Morris also famously designed typefaces and book decorations to emulate the traditional publishing methods of the fifteenth century. In fact he started his own publishing house, the Kelmscott Press, which during its short lifespan became one of the most reputed specialist presses in the country. Inspired by the medieval writers he published, Morris himself made tremendous contributions to the world of literature. He was the first of the Pre-Raphaelite poets, and published many volumes of poetry throughout his life. As a novelist, Morris pioneered the fantasy fiction genre, and his novels such as News from Nowhere and The Wood beyond the World were said to have influenced subsequent writers such as James Joyce and J.R.R. Tolkien. When he died aged 62, his physician declared that the cause was ‘simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men.’ Morris gradually understood toward the end of his life that, despite his efforts, a revolution was not going to happen in his lifetime. His novels were a way to express his utopian vision.
Elsewhere, socialist revolutions were brewing in Russia, India and Cuba and many other parts of the world. And they each had their own polymaths. Russian Alexander Bogdanov was one of the founders of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party as well as the proletarian cultural movement Proletkult. But he was also a trained physician and psychiatrist, a political theorist and economist during the Bolshevik Revolution, a pioneer of Russian science fiction (his Red Star, about a utopia on Mars, became a classic in modern Russian literature) and an important philosopher of science and one of the first systems theorists (outlined in his seminal
work Tectology).
Indian Rahul Sankrityayan led a peasants’ rebellion against the landlords in Bihar, was imprisoned on three occasions and was one of the leading socialist biographers of his time, completing seminal works on Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. Known as the Mahapundita (the wisest one), he was also a hyper-polyglot who wrote over 100 books covering a variety of subjects including sociology, literary history, philosophy, Buddhism, grammar, editing, folklore, science, drama and politics.
One of the leaders of the 1960s Cuban Revolution, Che Guevara is rarely referred to as a polymath despite being a bestselling travel writer, a qualified and practising physician, a revered Marxist philosopher, a skilful soldier and military theorist and ultimately a powerful statesman and diplomat. So it is not surprising that despite being killed by the U.S.-backed Bolivian authorities before he had even turned 40, French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre described him as ‘the most complete man of his age.’
By the turn of the twentieth century, imperialist authorities began to face substantial resistance to their rule from local activists; and a new breed of polymaths emerged from among them. Many of them were tremendously well rounded; each one was exceptionally well educated (usually in both the Western and indigenous traditions), had professional careers, wrote resistance poetry, developed philosophical world views, fought as soldiers, led movements and often used the arts and literature to articulate their anti-imperialist sentiments. The need to develop many creative forms of expression inspired (and in some cases compelled) them to polymathise.
Filipino national hero José Rizal was a polymathic revolutionary whose life was cut short by Spanish colonialists at the age of 35. Having initially taken an interest in law, he eventually went on to study medicine, earning a Licentiate in Medicine from the Universidad Central de Madrid, becoming an ophthalmologist. Many would also describe Rizal as an anthropological scholar. He extensively researched the languages and cultures of the Orient, such as the Chinese and Japanese, as well as the Filipinos. His aptitude for learning languages was exceptional — he became conversant in over 20 within a relatively short period of time.
As a poet, Rizal enjoyed worldwide acclaim, producing over 35 poems, including his famous Ultimo Adios. But perhaps most important his poetry helped inspire many Filipinos to stand for freedom against the Spanish colonialists. He began writing political works in essay and diary form, and eventually formed La Liga Filipina, a revolutionary organisation succeeded by the Katipunan. While in Spain he became a columnist in the Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad, calling for more freedoms for the Filipino people and better governance free from corruption and control. Rizal was also an impressive artist. As a painter, he produced many pieces in watercolour, oil and crayon including Christ Crucified, Saturnina Rizal and Spanish Coat of Arms, using various surfaces such as cloth, seashells, paper and canvas. He also produced countless sketches of places that he travelled to, historical monuments and people in his life.
Perhaps more impressive though, was Rizal’s magnificent output as a sculptor. His famous Triumph of Science over Death represented the emergence of the Enlightenment from the European Dark Ages through a naked female holding up a torch. He also sculpted the busts of various important people of the time, including his own father, working in wood, clay, wax and terracotta, ultimately producing over 50 pieces. One wonders when he found the time in such a short life, but Rizal was also a keen hobbyist, dabbling with apparent skill in chess, fencing, music (the flute) and pistol shooting. He also engaged in cartography, sketching out many maps of regions in the Philippines including Mindanao. Some may also refer to Rizal as a ‘ruralist.’ This is due to his work in agriculture — he had farms that he managed for years, where he performed botanical research and grew many varieties of plants.
Rizal was clearly multitalented. In a short life, he became an accomplished physician, artist, poet, activist, polyglot, hobbyist and scholar, whose work spanned the social and physical sciences a well as the arts. But his extraordinary polymathy was a form of protest against a system installed by his colonial oppressors.
By forming institutions similar to their own in the colonies, imperial authorities in the nineteenth century spread a culture of specialisation throughout the colonised world. Colonial bureaucracies appointed specialists where needed and largely restricted the intellectual freedom of local thinkers and artists. So, like Rizal, many leading resistance figures toward the end of European imperialism emerged as being phenomenally polymathic. In South Asia, Muhammad Iqbal was the ‘intellectual founder’ of Pakistan, as well as its national poet (having written over 12,000 verses in multiple languages). But he was also a successful lawyer, wrote one of the first books on economics in the Urdu language, and is acclaimed as one of the great modern Islamic philosophers — making him what in Urdu is referred to as a har-fun mawla (‘master of every art’).
In Africa, Senegalese revolutionary Cheikh Anta Diop excelled as a physicist who translated Einstein’s Theory of Relativity into his native Wolof, established a radiocarbon laboratory at the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN) and wrote a book on nuclear physics. He then combined his knowledge of genetics, linguistics, Egyptology, anthropology and world history to produce his groundbreaking masterpiece — The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality? — in which he supported his anti-colonial political philosophy through a masterly work of comprehensive historical and scientific scholarship. Then, as a political theorist, he wrote Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State, in which he argued that the only way the continent could develop economically and gain complete freedom from colonial subjugation was if it were to become a single political entity. A practitioner too, in the course of over twenty five years he founded three political parties which formed the main opposition in Senegal.
Intellectuals
Two of India’s greatest modern intellectuals happened to be father and son — both referred to as D.D. Kosambi. The father (Dharmananda) was an early-twentieth-century mathematician, Buddhist philosopher, an expert Pali linguistics and a prominent Marxist historian. Perhaps equally, if not more, impressive was his son, Damodar, who also excelled in mathematics, language and history, but instead of focusing on Buddhist philosophy pursued an interest in archaeology and the study of coins (numismatics). Having studied at Harvard, Damodar Kosambi returned home to India and taught mathematics at prestigious institutions such as Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Ferguson College Pune and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He published several papers and became a world-class statistician and geometrician, giving lectures at Chicago and Princeton Universities and liaising with top scientists of the time, including John von Neumann and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
His burgeoning Marxist views, however, led to a falling out with the Indian and American political and corporate establishments and so he decided to focus on other academic interests. Kosambi was already a prodigious polyglot who had published works in English, French, Italian and German and was proficient in several South Asian languages. His focus on Sanskrit led to important breakthroughs in the study of Ancient Indian history, and his book Culture and Civilisation in Ancient India is considered to be a classic of Indian literature. He later also published an important work on numismatics.
The Kosambis were both classic cases of the Intellectual Polymath — an individual whose knowledge, thoughts and ideas not only span several distinct fields, but moreover make significant intellectual contributions to each of them. They are ‘multispecialists’ rather than generalists, mastering their fields either simultaneously or in succession over the course of a lifetime. They are discoverers, producers and disseminators of knowledge and by definition use their intellects to work, study, reflect, speculate on or ask and answer questions with regards to a given topic or topics. The intellectual, of course, is naturally a thinker who — deliberately or inadvertently — prioritises thought over action in order to achieve his or h
er objectives; usually through some form of scholarly contribution. Typically, they come in the form of philosophers, historians, scientists, social scientists, essayists, even novelists. They are usually the source and developers of the big ideas in world history. And the best of them are boundless thinkers. Their knowledge, thoughts and ideas not only span several distinct fields, but they moreover make significant intellectual contributions to each of them.
The most typical form for the polymathic intellectual to take is that of a philosopher. Philosophy today has become increasingly compartmentalised (logic, metaphysics, ethics, etc.) to create specialists within it, but it began as an all-encompassing, boundless method of enquiry as well as a holistic, rounded world view. Traditional, premodern philosophers took an interdisciplinary, synthesising approach, posing questions on a variety of subjects in order to better formulate their philosophical world views.
Described by Bertrand Russell as the first true scholar-philosopher, Aristotle was educated at Plato’s Academy, and then later appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon, where he became personal tutor to three future kings: Alexander the Great, Ptolemy and Cassander. It is during this period in Athens from 335 to 323 bce that Aristotle is believed to have produced perhaps the most diverse intellectual oeuvre the world has ever seen. The range of his investigations was phenomenal. In the physical sciences, he studied and wrote observations on anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied and made important observations on education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopaedia of Greek knowledge: he contributed to almost every field of human knowledge then in existence, and he was the founder of many new fields. British historian Brian Magee said of him that ‘it is doubtful whether any human being has ever known as much as he did’ and Fernández-Armesto said that he was ‘uniquely transgressive in the mastery of what we’d now think of as different fields — and few have surpassed his influence in any of them.’ He was perhaps the earliest example of the intellectual polymath, one who harmonised the depth and breadth of knowledge in a way that would rarely be seen again.
