A response to a LinkedIn
discussion on the legitimacy of "research of literary material written
far removed by us, timewise, using modern knowledge"
Hindsight is a great source of insight. And one of the
advantages of studying a work from the past is that we stand in a
position of hindsight, and can see (for instance because of future
developments in the genre of the work, or later studies on its subject
matter) many things which were invisible, or only partially visible, to
the author. We also have the tradition of commentaries of that work at
our disposal—and that is something no contemporary of the author may
know. Contemporaries do have their own set of advantages, as regards
the response to a work, but we latecomers should not forgo the special
benefits afforded by our retrospective watchtower.
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