"All these people have labored for my sake: all that were ever great, wise, or noble—these benefactors of the human race whose names I find recorded in world history, as well as the many more whose services have survived their names. I have reaped their harvest. Upon the earth on which they lived, I tread in their footsteps, which bring blessings upon all who follow them. As soon I wish, I can assume that lofty task which they had set for themselves: the task of making our fellow men ever wiser and happier. Where they had to stop, I can build further. I can bring nearer to completion that noble temple that they had to leave unfinished." (Johann Gottlieb Fichte)
“Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.” (recorded by John of Salisbury)
John Rosenberg discusses these ideas and adds. "...I like Fichte’s architectural metaphor better—adding to the temple left unfinished by others—because the temple’s builders were not all giants. Some were “great and wise and noble,” and history tells us their names, but we have forgotten the names of the “many more” no less engaged in temple building and equally deserving of our gratitude."
All around us, in our families in our communities, in our country, we benefit from those who have gone before us and built for us. Rosenberg's article made me think about how I am contributing to "noble" undertakings initiated by others.
John Rosenberg discusses these ideas and adds. "...I like Fichte’s architectural metaphor better—adding to the temple left unfinished by others—because the temple’s builders were not all giants. Some were “great and wise and noble,” and history tells us their names, but we have forgotten the names of the “many more” no less engaged in temple building and equally deserving of our gratitude."
All around us, in our families in our communities, in our country, we benefit from those who have gone before us and built for us. Rosenberg's article made me think about how I am contributing to "noble" undertakings initiated by others.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte, “Lectures on the Vocation of a Scholar,” Philosophy of German Idealism (New York: Continuum, 1987), 28.118
John Salisbury, Metalogican of John Salisbury (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1955), 167
Quoted in BYU Studies Quarterly 52, no. 2 (2013); "My Vocation as a Scholar - An Idea of the University" by John R. Rosenberg;
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