Sentence:  Usually the work studied offers us a special or even an individualized rendering or treatment of the ideas in question , so that the <WSD>student</WSD> finds it necessary to distinguish carefully between the several expressions of an `` - ism '' or mode of thought . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a learned person (especially in the humanities); someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines