The Journal of Brief Ideas

By Michael Araki

Recent TED talks and books like "Range" and "The Polymath" generated great popular interest in the concept of polymathy. However, polymathy is still ill-defined in academia. Here, I propose a more systematic typology, based on the literature review carried out by Araki (2015; 2018).

Polymathy is divided into two major categories: passive polymathy and creative polymathy.

Passive polymathy refers to the consumption of extant knowledge (Burke, 2010) whereas creative polymathy involves the generation of original contributions via cross-pollination or multidisciplinary syntheses. Passive polymathy is further divided into three types: Omni genere polymathy is the Renaissance polymathy that spans every genre of knowledge. Philosophical polymathy is the devotion to the pursuit of wide-ranging (but not all-encompassing) knowledge. Experiential polymathy is the acquisition of life-skills and meaningful experiences in a variety of forms and domains.

Creative polymathy is further divided into four types: Avocational polymathy is the active engagement in multiple interests to the point of mixing vocations and avocations in a synergistic whole. Pro-c polymathy is the generation of creative products at the Pro-c level involving cross-pollination and multidisciplinary insights. Big-C polymathy is like Pro-c polymathy but involves highly eminent creations. Finally, Triarchic polymathy combines Big-C in one domain with Pro-c in at least two more domains.

Ideas citing this work