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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 87 KB, 470x600, 470px-Edward_Witten.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16659562 No.16659562 [Reply] [Original]

So in natural sciences it's kind of obvious that this or that guy is an absolute genius. Do humanities have an equivalent? Is there anybody in humanities alive today who is unequivocally and instantly considered a genius if his name is brought up?

Pic related is Ed Witten. It doesn't really matter whether he's right or wrong, everybody would instantly agree he is a genius in his field.

>> No.16659594
File: 16 KB, 400x263, harold bloom.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16659594

>>16659562
Not anymore

>> No.16659597
File: 180 KB, 1400x1400, 6721511183187_XXL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16659597

>>16659562
Not to be a faggot but

>> No.16659645

>>16659562
There is no one alive today who is an unequivocal genius and there never will be because the humanities and literature especially are very subjective as opposed to the natural sciences where there exists very little if not no subjectivity. Secondly because the genius of those within the humanities is often decided by the influence they have on later works and their being remembered after their death.

Of Edward Witten: "He supports the two-state solution and advocates a boycott of Israeli institutions and economic activity beyond its 1967 borders, though not of Israel itself." Is he dare I say, based?

>> No.16659674

>>16659562
>Is there anybody in humanities alive today who is unequivocally and instantly considered a genius if his name is brought up?
Alive, idk; dead, Spinoza, maybe Kant or Aristotle.

>> No.16659714
File: 161 KB, 747x1120, 1502673108078.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16659714

>>16659562
You just need to look for the phenotype. Indubiously, there lies a genius.

>> No.16659717

>>16659645
>though not of Israel itself
Cringe

>> No.16659727

>>16659562
from Wikipedia:
Witten attended the Park School of Baltimore (class of '68), and received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history and minor in linguistics from Brandeis University in 1971.[10]
He had aspirations in journalism and politics and published articles in both The New Republic and The Nation in the late 1960s.[11][12] In 1972 he worked for six months in George McGovern's presidential campaign.[when?][13]
Witten attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for one semester as an economics graduate student before dropping out.[2] He returned to academia, enrolling in applied mathematics at Princeton University in 1973, then shifting departments and receiving a Ph.D. in physics in 1976

Holy shit. I aspire to be as well rounded as him.

>> No.16659736

>>16659562
No because the humanities has become completely captured by leftism/woke SJW faggotry/grievance studies/warring tribalist Jews/diversity hires/etc. Look up literally any prestigious college then check out the faculty of the humanities department. It’s fucking pathetic.

>> No.16659752

>>16659562
Saul Kripke

>> No.16659941

>>16659562
Holy shit..... That phenotype, bros...
How can non Ashkenazim even compete?

>> No.16659945

>>16659562
MNMDR/Horia Belcea

>> No.16659973
File: 21 KB, 500x375, daviddeutch.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16659973

>>16659562
The natural sciences tend to have a higher barrier of entry, so the geniuses there tend to stand out more.

I'd consider Tolstoy and Dostoevsky as no brainers. Possibly Joyce and Musil. The former in terms of his sheer linguistic inventiveness, and the latter for how intellectually vigorous his prose is.

War and Peace for example, with its panoramic scope, vast ensemble of humanity, soaringly ambitious themes, and additional historical and philosophical commentaries, could only be the product of a genius.

Btw I would consider David Deutsch to be the greater contemporary physicist.

>> No.16659986

>>16659973
Incidentally Deutsch also programmed a piece of writing software that is a huge boon to the humanities called concordance. It allows you to spot redundancies in prose.

He is giving it away for free on his website.

http://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/concordance/

>> No.16660124
File: 1.08 MB, 1280x800, 2018_39_nietzsche.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16660124

>> No.16661393

>>16659594
Absolutely not.

>> No.16661425

>>16659986

Redundancies are not necessarily a negative, however.

>> No.16661522

>>16659674
>>Alive, idk; dead, Spinoza, maybe Kant or Aristotle.
all pozzers trying to pass as scientists. that's really the essence of the humanities.

>> No.16661527

>>16659727
>well rounded
huh, the guy was the usual braindead drone falling for the non-stem humanist education meme like women do today, muh journalism muh talking about society, and end up having no idea what to do. he eventually found maths, but he was lucky that changing majors all the time was permitted back then

>> No.16661743
File: 167 KB, 683x1024, image.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16661743

>>16659562
When I think humanities genius Roberto Calasso is the name that immediately comes to mind.

>> No.16661959

>>16659986
>http://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/concordance/
>Mac

>> No.16662459
File: 7 KB, 205x246, bloom.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16662459

>>16661393
Bloom could read 400 pages an hour

>> No.16662519

Political stuff aside, Chomsky really is a genius when it comes to linguistics. You might call that a social science though.

>> No.16662952

>>16659562
>So in natural sciences it's kind of obvious that this or that guy is an absolute genius.
It isn't obvious. Witten is a high tier midwit.

>> No.16663068

>>16662459
>actually believing this
loling at you