Who is a Polymath?. Are you one? Can you claim to be one?
By: Jun Wu
Tags: Polymath, Self, Learning, Creativity, Education

Who is a Polymath?

Are you one? Can you claim to be one?

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I have a problem with the word Polymath. According to Wikipedia, this is a Greek term that means an individual whose knowledge spans a significant number of subjects, who are drawn to complex bodies of knowledge to solve complex problems. They are supposed to be Renaissance thinkers. Leonardo DiVinci is probably one of the most well-known Polymaths.

I learned of the word Polymath from people’s profiles on social media. There are influencers (often from technology) who are polymaths. I can understand how technologists and thinkers are often people who love to learn. They are fluent and curious about many topics spanning science, arts, literature, technology, and more.

But, isn’t that just someone who is a curious individual.

When my family immigrated from China, my parents were scientists. They were shunned by the Maoist era politicians because they were “polymath” people or “well-rounded intellectuals”. They were people who were curious about all things. They could write, investigate, experiment and develop theories. They were curious individuals.

Then, as I grew up in China, at school, teachers advocated for “well-rounded” individuals who can achieve in all disciplines. It wasn’t enough to be good in math and science, you also had to be good at sports and sang in a choir.

Like all such children from the top 5% of overachieving families in a country with billions of people, I grew up under the tall order of being a “polymath”.

Like all such children under the weight and pressure of the system, I hated the words, “well-rounded” and “polymath”.

Due to my curiosity about all things, I became a pretty “well-rounded” individual. My well-roundedness was a by-product of my curiosity. My knowledge in many subjects is the result of careful studies with opportunities provided by the societies that I’m fortunate enough to live in and the circumstances that I live in.

My well-roundedness is not renaissance or special.

When I look around, there are a lot of people who grew up in my generation who became technologists, inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, analysts, writers, etc…. These people often work at the intersection of many disciplines. They are big-picture people. They are not specialists.

The fact that they are big-picture people, the fact that they are curious about many subjects allows them to work to straddle many different subjects in their professional lives.

These people are not overly special than the specialists who are content with working in detail on one subject matter.

So, I don’t have a problem with the term “polymath” or “well-roundedness”.

I have a problem with people who use the term to assert authority or gain special status.

Our knowledge is not ours to claim. We come to it on our path of living. We learn the knowledge that is shared by all who we can learn from.

It is as if to say that Science is yours. It is not yours or mine.

We might know more than others because we studied more, we read more literature, and we worked more in this one area. The reason we did all of that is because we had fortunate circumstances.

Our expertise does not make us more special. It simply allows us to venture on our paths with more depth.

I think of my adventures into the depths of subjects as deep-sea explorations.

I think of my adventures around the big picture as snorkeling around the shallow sea.

I think of my adventures around multi-disciplines as living with a vast sea of sea creatures and exploring their homes.

Does that make me a polymath? No. It simply makes me curious.