"Beware the man of one book."
Philosophy, ethics, religious studies and theology discussion, revision, exam and homework help.
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"Beware the man of one book.""Beware the man of one book."
— St. Thomas Aquinas
What do you think this means? I'd love to hear differing opinions. Just as a slight bit of background, it's essentially about learning and education... -
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Re: "Beware the man of one book."I think it means you should be wary of someone who gets all their views from one "book".
Whether it be a literal book, newspapers, media, TV, religion or a certain group.
It's saying people should form their opinion from a combination of viewpoints; be careful of people who don't!
Sensible advice. -
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Re: "Beware the man of one book."Isn't the book a metaphor for how open your mind is?
If you've read one book then you only subscribe to one viewpoint so therefore are ignorant and narrow minded.Last edited by Colour Me Pretty; 09-01-2011 at 22:36. -
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Re: "Beware the man of one book."Yes, I took it to be a metaphor. I see it as meaning one set of views, or perhaps the book is a metaphor for education itself. Perhaps 'education' is a library, so beware of those who have read one book i.e uneducated, ignorant as someone else said.(Original post by Colour Me Pretty)
Isn't the book a metaphor for how open your mind is?
If you've read one book then you only subscribe to one viewpoint so therefore are ignorant and narrow minded. -
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Re: "Beware the man of one book."I don't think it was quite the only book that mattered to him, but I appreciate what you're saying.(Original post by Bunkd)
Ironically, Aquinas is most famous for his work on reforming aristotellian and other classical philosophy into a form compatible with the Bible - the only book to matter to him. -
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Re: "Beware the man of one book."Best of all(Original post by Magsam)
I think it means you should be wary of someone who gets all their views from one "book".
Whether it be a literal book, newspapers, media, TV, religion or a certain group.
It's saying people should form their opinion from a combination of viewpoints; be careful of people who don't!
Sensible advice.
