“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”
Although I think breaking things actually can be pretty useful if there are more things of that kind. If you’re breaking something unique, well, then...
I’m not sure if ‘although’ is meant to reject this as a rationality quote or deny it entirely. I think the latter might be wise, though. It’s essentially an anti-reductionist, anti-analytic quote on similar grounds to Keats’ lines on unweaving rainbows. It’s also part of a semi-mystical ‘magical combat by philosophical debate’ sequence, which I really enjoy as literature but which essentially boils down to a series of Mysterious Old Wizard ‘insights’.
Although, ironically, in LOTR the quote is objecting to Saruman breaking white light into its constituent ‘many colours’, whereas Keats is objecting to explaining the ‘many colours’ back to a division of white light. So it seems that the ‘holistic’ view is objecting to analysis in either direction on this one!
From Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien:
“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”
Although I think breaking things actually can be pretty useful if there are more things of that kind. If you’re breaking something unique, well, then...
I’m not sure if ‘although’ is meant to reject this as a rationality quote or deny it entirely. I think the latter might be wise, though. It’s essentially an anti-reductionist, anti-analytic quote on similar grounds to Keats’ lines on unweaving rainbows. It’s also part of a semi-mystical ‘magical combat by philosophical debate’ sequence, which I really enjoy as literature but which essentially boils down to a series of Mysterious Old Wizard ‘insights’. Although, ironically, in LOTR the quote is objecting to Saruman breaking white light into its constituent ‘many colours’, whereas Keats is objecting to explaining the ‘many colours’ back to a division of white light. So it seems that the ‘holistic’ view is objecting to analysis in either direction on this one!