In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig/Phaedrus wanted to explore philosophy before it bifurcated into the primary subjective/objective ways of looking at things. He called this state of thought "Quality," and looked to the pre-Socratics for its historical antecedents. Fritjof Capra suggests, I think, that really Leonard Da Vinci is the prime example of the man what represents Quality in all senses of the word, including Pirsig's metaphysical Quality, the first and foremost example of l'oumo universale, the man who "can do all things if he will." Pico's Oration on the Dignity of Man says that "God made men at the close of creation, to know the laws of the universe, to love its beauty, to admire its greatness. He bound him to no fixed place, to no prescribed form of work, and by no iron necessity, but gave him freedom to will and to love." If anybody exemplifies Pico's vision of man, it is Leonardo, who, if Capra is to be credited, really represents the apotheosis of what it means to be a human in the fullest sense of the word. Leonardo came at at time when it was possible to loosen the fetters of old thinking and learn to see and to think for himself, coming up with observations that would not be repeated for sometimes hundreds of years.
"Five hundred years before the scientific method was recognized and formally described by philosophers and scientists, Leonardo Da Vinci singlehandedly developed and practiced its characteristics." Leonardo combined detailed skills of observation with his exceptional drawing abilities to puzzle out many phenomena before science developed the language to see and deal with them. He was at that unique vortex in time before the different branches of knowledge went in their various directions, requiring more and more specialized knowledge, and so he could hold a more holistic view of the world. He combined those close observations with a deep awareness "of the fundamental interconnectedness of all phenomena and of the interdependence and mutual generation of all parts of an organic whole." (This sounds suspiciously like co-dependent origination to me.)
In addition to discovering the scientific method and anticipating many of the advanced principles of mathematics, such as calculus or topology, or establishing a neurological theory of visual perception, or by anticipating some of the modern findings of cognitive science, Leonardo was the first "deep ecologist" who intuitively understood the gaia hypothesis and saw the "underlying conception of the living world as being fundamentally interconnected, highly complex, creative, and embued with cognitive intelligence." Leonardo was a deeply spiritual person in whom a sense of "all life is holy" reigned supreme.
Leonardo's a fascinating character, obviously, and Capra presents a fairly unique way of approaching him through the notebooks, where Leo uses his drawings to express what would words or the mathematics of his time could not. Perhaps there was something in his visual perception and conception of the world that allowed him to see the unity in things, as Capra asserts. But ultimately, I'm not convinced. For me, Capra was not able to express in words what Leonardo saw. Perhaps Capra is a bit too enthusiastic in his presentation, maybe a little journalistic? In any case, I didn't feel the depth of knowledge to be ultimately satisfying. Perhaps in making connections between seeming disparate ideas--Leonardo and modern science, Buddhism and modern physics (in the Tao of Science) there are really too many points, too many dissimilarities at the end of the day, that get glossed over. The book succeeds in piquing my interest in Leonardo and perhaps as seeing him more of a precursor to modern thought than I would have supposed, but ultimately the book doesn't convince me, doesn't make those connections with the depth and authority needed to make the argument. I bought the book last year for the high school library, and that's about the right level for this book. Somehow, I expected more from Capra.
Author: Capra, Fritjof
Date Published: 2007
Length: 352 pp
electronic print
No comments:
Post a Comment