--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...It would hardly be a waste of time if…" description: "\"“...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even the most advanced students in the cognitive sciences were to pay a visit to their ancestors. I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/umberto-eco-313_philosophy_it-would-hardly-be-a-waste-of-time-if-so_2137307.jpg" --- # ...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even… ![“...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even the most advanced students in the cognitive sciences were to pay a visit to their ancestors. It is frequently claimed in American philosophy departments that, in order to be a philosopher, it is not necessary to revisit the history of…” quote by Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/umberto-eco-313_philosophy_it-would-hardly-be-a-waste-of-time-if-so_2137307.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/umberto-eco-313_philosophy_it-would-hardly-be-a-waste-of-time-if-so_2137307.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ed2/umberto-eco-313_philosophy_it-would-hardly-be-a-waste-of-time-if-so_2137307.jpg) > ““...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even the most advanced students in the cognitive sciences were to pay a visit to their ancestors. It is frequently claimed in American philosophy departments that, in order to be a philosopher, it is not necessary to revisit the history of philosophy. It is like the claim that one can become a painter without having ever seen a single work by Raphael, or a writer without having ever read the classics. Such things are theoretically possible; but the 'primitive' artist, condemned to an ignorance of the past, is always recognizable as such and rightly labeled as naïf. It is only when we consider past projects revealed as utopian or as failures that we are apprised of the dangers and possibilities for failure for our allegedly new projects. The study of the deeds of our ancestors is thus more than an atiquarian pastime, it is an immunological precaution.”” [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Studying historical ideas protects current work from repeating past mistakes and reveals hidden opportunities. **In simple terms:** History warns and guides new ideas. Key Takeaway Learn from past successes and failures. Themes history philosophy learning risk management Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - academic research - policy design - technology development - creative projects Key Concepts cognitive science epistemology innovation Questions to Reflect On - What lessons from history can improve your current project? - How do you balance tradition with innovation? A Different Perspective Overreliance on past can stifle novel thinking. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Waste of time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/waste-of-time/) ## Related quotes > [Words summarize the American philosophy of life: Live and let live; Let's make a deal. 8 words summarize American foreign policy: We're better than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-north/words-summarize-the-american-philosophy-of-life-live-and-let-live-let/) [Gary North](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-north/) > [To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/to-be-a-real-philosopher-all-that-is-necessary-is-to-hate-some-one/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [The great philosophers and the great works are standards for the selection of what is essential. Everything that we do in studying the history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-jaspers/the-great-philosophers-and-the-great-works-are-standards-for-the/) [Karl Jaspers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-jaspers/) > [A wise architect observed that you could break the laws of architec75tural art provided you had mastered them first. That would apply to religion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/a-wise-architect-observed-that-you-could-break-the-laws-of/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [“History is not the past – it is the method we have evolved of organising our ignorance of the past”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/history-is-not-the-past-it-is-the-method-we-have-evolved-of/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [ “The conduct \[of today\] is ignorance of the past \[life\] whereas understanding (samjhan) is the stock carried forward from many past lives!” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/the-conduct-of-today-is-ignorance-of-the-past-life-whereas/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [“How odd it is, thought March afterwards, to live your life in ignorance of the past, of your world, yourself. Yet how easy to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/how-odd-it-is-thought-march-afterwards-to-live-your-life-in-ignorance/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [History is Philosophy teaching by example.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/history-is-philosophy-teaching-by-example/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [“If philosophy had the power to establish incontrovertible truths, immune to doubt, and if philosophers were as a rule wholly disinterested practitioners of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bentley-hart/if-philosophy-had-the-power-to-establish-incontrovertible-truths/) [David Bentley Hart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bentley-hart/) > [History is philosophy teaching by example and also by warning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-st-john-1st-viscount-bolingbroke/history-is-philosophy-teaching-by-example-and-also-by-warning/) [Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-st-john-1st-viscount-bolingbroke/) > [Skepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/skepticism-is-a-virtue-in-history-as-well-as-in-philosophy/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“What is a course of history, or philosophy, or poetry, no matter how well selected, or the best society, or the most admirable routine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/what-is-a-course-of-history-or-philosophy-or-poetry-no-matter-how/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“Lord Bolingbroke, who was an eighteenth-century political philosopher, called history “philosophy taught with examples.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccullough/lord-bolingbroke-who-was-an-eighteenth-century-political-philosopher/) [David McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccullough/) > [No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history, or philosophy, or poetry,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/no-method-nor-discipline-can-supersede-the-necessity-of-being-forever/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [What I really like about law is that it's not an endless discourse like history or philosophy. In law, there comes a point where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernhard-schlink/what-i-really-like-about-law-is-that-it-s-not-an-endless-discourse/) [Bernhard Schlink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernhard-schlink/) ## More by Umberto Eco > [I think that at a certain age, say fifteen or sixteen, poetry is like masturbation. But later in life good poets burn their early…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/i-think-that-at-a-certain-age-say-fifteen-or-sixteen-poetry-is-like/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [Followers of the occult believe in only what they already know, and in those things that confirm what they have already learned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/followers-of-the-occult-believe-in-only-what-they-already-know-and-in/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [“This has nothing to do with realism (even if it explains also realism). A completely real world can be constructed, in which asses fly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/this-has-nothing-to-do-with-realism-even-if-it-explains-also-realism/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [“…there’s nothing in this world that demands more caution than the truth. 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Bad poets publish them, good poets burn them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/all-poets-write-bad-poetry-bad-poets-publish-them-good-poets-burn-them/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/there-are-four-kinds-of-people-in-this-world-cretins-fools-morons-and/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) [Explore all 600 Umberto Eco quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) ## More Philosopher quotes > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. 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If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Divers philosophers hold that the lips is parcel of the mouth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/divers-philosophers-hold-that-the-lips-is-parcel-of-the-mouth/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Since Pawlow and his pupils have succeeded in causing the secretion of saliva in the dog by means of optic and acoustic signals, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-loeb/since-pawlow-and-his-pupils-have-succeeded-in-causing-the-secretion/) [Jacques Loeb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-loeb/) > [To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/to-become-a-philosopher-start-by-walking-very-slowly/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plutarch/when-eud-monidas-heard-a-philosopher-arguing-that-only-a-wise-man-can/) [Plutarch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plutarch/) > [“Mr. Pickwick was a philosopher, but philosophers are only men in armour, after all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/mr-pickwick-was-a-philosopher-but-philosophers-are-only-men-in-armour/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [And that, in a way, was the burden of being a philosopher: one knew what one had to do, but it was so often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-mccall-smith/and-that-in-a-way-was-the-burden-of-being-a-philosopher-one-knew-what/) [Alexander McCall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-mccall-smith/) > [As our domestic fowls are said to have their original in the wild pheasant of India, so our domestic thoughts have their prototypes in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/as-our-domestic-fowls-are-said-to-have-their-original-in-the-wild/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. 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Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [I think that for thousands of years people have made the observation that there are certain kinds of extreme depressive states that seem to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/i-think-that-for-thousands-of-years-people-have-made-the-observation/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [The proof that a philosopher does not know what he is talking about is apt to sadden his followers before it reacts on himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/the-proof-that-a-philosopher-does-not-know-what-he-is-talking-about/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [The idea that God resides in the unknown is what philosophers call the God of the gaps. And we have this thing called science,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/the-idea-that-god-resides-in-the-unknown-is-what-philosophers-call/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) [Browse all 2,194 Philosopher quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosopher/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“...It would hardly be a waste of time if sometimes even the most advanced students in the cognitive sciences were to pay a visit to their ancestors. It is frequently claimed in American philosophy departments that, in order to be a philosopher, it is not necessary to revisit the history of philosophy. It is like the claim that one can become a painter without having ever seen a single work by Raphael, or a writer without having ever read the classics. Such things are theoretically possible; but the 'primitive' artist, condemned to an ignorance of the past, is always recognizable as such and rightly labeled as naïf. It is only when we consider past projects revealed as utopian or as failures that we are apprised of the dangers and possibilities for failure for our allegedly new projects. 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