(28-05-2022, 06:53 AM)davidjackson wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In some ways they would over compensate - Kirchner, and I'm sure many of his contemporaries, would happily claim knowledge that they didn't actually possess.
It is fair to say that. Was Kirchner's approach to deciphering ancient Egyptian texts not based on fundamental misconceptions ? It probably never occurred to Kirchner himself that he could be wrong.
The overconfidence was also expressed by the fact that Kirchner and his contemporaries also thought it was possible to be an expert in all possible fields ( Egyptology, Sinology, Geology, Medicine, Music etc. ). This generalism was common, specializations rather rare.
The concept of universal scholarship declined from the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was practically non-existent.
Quote:"He who works only on one thing seldom discovers anything new."
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ( 1646 - 1716 ) -