Browse Documents By...
Original Language...
Documents For...
Browse Commentaries By...
Browse Referred Persons By...
Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books, Basel (1738)
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freie Universität Berlin 04.06.03.05
Citation:
Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books, Basel (1738), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
There are two paths by which one can attain a knowledge of things as they are.
The first is if we ourselves look into the nature of things and their causes using just
our faculties of thought and mental reflection. The other method involves acquiring
something which lies outside us by allowing the guidance and instruction of others -
in particular, that provided by the sciences - to lead us, as it were by the hand, towards
a knowledge of things which have already been understood by many for a long time. The
first of these two paths is admittedly easier and leads quicker to the desired goal, but
apart from the maturity which only the years can give one, it demands both a particularly
fine intellect and a leisure which is free of all other obligations. These two conditions
are both met only in a very small number of people, and all the more so since the transience
of human life means that it is necessary anyway to [try to] reproduce in abbreviated form
the knowledge that one only really attains by this method. The second path is altogether
the more favourable because it promotes the development of the intellect by gradually
imparting that which it is necessary to know; and because it doesn't completely exclude the
intrusion of practical affairs into one's life, as long as one uses properly the periods of
rest in between. Most importantly, this second path is the more propitious because, no
matter how many difficulties and moments of frustration one may encounter in its course,
it will always allow one to make up for these entirely thanks to the richness and variety
of the world. This is what enables us to understand the teachings that have come down to us
from so many historical ages, as well as to comprehend a good deal of things which one
simply wouldn't be able to acquire knowledge of if one were merely to reflect on them on
one's own - it may be a question of specific facts but also of such things which it is
necessary to know for [elaborating] what one arrives at through independent reflection:
namely, such things as deeds, words, all kinds of useful and felicitous observations which
have been recorded in writing for posterity, etc. With good reason, we are therefore of the
opinion that there is nothing which contributes more to one's [intellectual] development
than the reading of books. Thomas Bartholin is quite right to say:* "Without books
God himself would be silent, Justice too would not be heard, Medicine would be paralysed,
and the Sciences would be struck dumb - everything would be surrendered to Cimmerian Darkness."
** . All the same, I am ready to grant that there have been people who were
extraordinarily learned without having to read books, as Cicero attests when he says the
following:*** "I admit that there have been many people of outstanding intellect and
exceptional virtue who lacked, however, any erudition whatsoever; that these qualities were
wholly innate to their character which was kindred to that of the gods; that they were
instinctively considerate; and whose worth was entirely inherent in them. I would, moreover,
add the following: that it is more frequent for someone without erudition to attain merit and
virtue thanks to his natural qualities, than for the most erudite person to do so without such
natural qualities." However, it is almost certain that such people would have made
even greater strides if they had combined the reading of books with the musings of their
intellect. For reading does have this wonderful effect of encouraging one to think and can,
as it were, point those who are seeking attentively to such things which lead to true
knowledge, but which might not have occurred to them otherwise. Nevertheless, that which is
pursued by means of the easier method we have described - namely, to get to the root of
things by [independent] reflection alone - has since time immemorial served as an incentive
to reasonable men
_________________________________
* In his Diss. de libr. legend. (1676) – [Thomas Bartholin, the Elder (1616-1680) was
Professor of Mathematics and Anatomy at Copenhagen University].
** Cf. Homer’s description of a land where the sun never shone, Odys. XI, 14
*** In his speech for Archias [“Pro Archia,” in which Cicero defended the poet’s
claim to Roman citizenship].
No Transcription available.
Source: Universitätsbibliothek Freie Universität Berlin 04.06.03.05
Citation:
Thurneysen: On the Illicit Reprinting of Books, Basel (1738), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
There are two paths by which one can attain a knowledge of things as they are.
The first is if we ourselves look into the nature of things and their causes using just
our faculties of thought and mental reflection. The other method involves acquiring
something which lies outside us by allowing the guidance and instruction of others -
in particular, that provided by the sciences - to lead us, as it were by the hand, towards
a knowledge of things which have already been understood by many for a long time. The
first of these two paths is admittedly easier and leads quicker to the desired goal, but
apart from the maturity which only the years can give one, it demands both a particularly
fine intellect and a leisure which is free of all other obligations. These two conditions
are both met only in a very small number of people, and all the more so since the transience
of human life means that it is necessary anyway to [try to] reproduce in abbreviated form
the knowledge that one only really attains by this method. The second path is altogether
the more favourable because it promotes the development of the intellect by gradually
imparting that which it is necessary to know; and because it doesn't completely exclude the
intrusion of practical affairs into one's life, as long as one uses properly the periods of
rest in between. Most importantly, this second path is the more propitious because, no
matter how many difficulties and moments of frustration one may encounter in its course,
it will always allow one to make up for these entirely thanks to the richness and variety
of the world. This is what enables us to understand the teachings that have come down to us
from so many historical ages, as well as to comprehend a good deal of things which one
simply wouldn't be able to acquire knowledge of if one were merely to reflect on them on
one's own - it may be a question of specific facts but also of such things which it is
necessary to know for [elaborating] what one arrives at through independent reflection:
namely, such things as deeds, words, all kinds of useful and felicitous observations which
have been recorded in writing for posterity, etc. With good reason, we are therefore of the
opinion that there is nothing which contributes more to one's [intellectual] development
than the reading of books. Thomas Bartholin is quite right to say:* "Without books
God himself would be silent, Justice too would not be heard, Medicine would be paralysed,
and the Sciences would be struck dumb - everything would be surrendered to Cimmerian Darkness."
** . All the same, I am ready to grant that there have been people who were
extraordinarily learned without having to read books, as Cicero attests when he says the
following:*** "I admit that there have been many people of outstanding intellect and
exceptional virtue who lacked, however, any erudition whatsoever; that these qualities were
wholly innate to their character which was kindred to that of the gods; that they were
instinctively considerate; and whose worth was entirely inherent in them. I would, moreover,
add the following: that it is more frequent for someone without erudition to attain merit and
virtue thanks to his natural qualities, than for the most erudite person to do so without such
natural qualities." However, it is almost certain that such people would have made
even greater strides if they had combined the reading of books with the musings of their
intellect. For reading does have this wonderful effect of encouraging one to think and can,
as it were, point those who are seeking attentively to such things which lead to true
knowledge, but which might not have occurred to them otherwise. Nevertheless, that which is
pursued by means of the easier method we have described - namely, to get to the root of
things by [independent] reflection alone - has since time immemorial served as an incentive
to reasonable men
_________________________________
* In his Diss. de libr. legend. (1676) – [Thomas Bartholin, the Elder (1616-1680) was
Professor of Mathematics and Anatomy at Copenhagen University].
** Cf. Homer’s description of a land where the sun never shone, Odys. XI, 14
*** In his speech for Archias [“Pro Archia,” in which Cicero defended the poet’s
claim to Roman citizenship].
No Transcription available.