Standing on the shoulders of giants
Encyclopedia
Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants (Latin
: nanos gigantium humeris insidentes) is a Western metaphor
meaning "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past," a contemporary interpretation. However, the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century and attributed to Bernard of Chartres
. It was famously uttered by seventeenth-century scientist Isaac Newton
(see below). The picture is derived from the Greek mythology
where the blind giant
Orion
carried his servant Cedalion
on his shoulders.
. In 1159, John wrote in his Metalogicon:
According to medieval historian Richard Southern
, Bernard is comparing the modern scholar (12th century) to the ancient scholars of Greece and Rome:
The visual image (from Bernard of Chartres) appears in the stained glass of the south transept of Chartres Cathedral. The tall windows under the Rose Window show the four major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) as gigantic figures, and the four New Testament evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as ordinary-size people sitting on their shoulders. The evangelists, though smaller, "see more" than the huge prophets (since they saw the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke).
The phrase also appears in the works of the Jewish tosaphist
Isaiah di Trani
(c. 1180 – c. 1250):
.
In the book Free as in Freedom
, Bob Young of Red Hat
supports the Free software movement
by saying that it enables people to stand on the shoulders of giants. He also says that standing on the shoulders of giants is the opposite of Reinventing the wheel
.
An excerpt from the book
:
Another excerpt from the book
quoted by Linus Torvalds
:
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: nanos gigantium humeris insidentes) is a Western metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
meaning "One who develops future intellectual pursuits by understanding the research and works created by notable thinkers of the past," a contemporary interpretation. However, the metaphor was first recorded in the twelfth century and attributed to Bernard of Chartres
Bernard of Chartres
Bernard of Chartres was a twelfth-century French Neo-Platonist philosopher, scholar, and administrator.- Life :...
. It was famously uttered by seventeenth-century scientist Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
(see below). The picture is derived from the Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
where the blind giant
Giant (mythology)
The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology.In various Indo-European mythologies,...
Orion
Orion (mythology)
Orion was a giant huntsman in Greek mythology whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion....
carried his servant Cedalion
Cedalion
In Greek mythology, Cedalion or Kedalion was a servant of Hephaestus in Lemnos. According to one tradition, he was Hephaestus's tutor, with whom Hera fostered her son on Naxos to teach him smithcraft...
on his shoulders.
Attribution and meaning
The attribution to Bernard is due to John of SalisburyJohn of Salisbury
John of Salisbury , who described himself as Johannes Parvus , was an English author, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres, and was born at Salisbury.-Early life and education:...
. In 1159, John wrote in his Metalogicon:
- "Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."
- ("Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos, gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvenimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea")
According to medieval historian Richard Southern
Richard Southern
Sir Richard William Southern , who published under the name R. W. Southern, was a noted English medieval historian, based at the University of Oxford.-Biography:...
, Bernard is comparing the modern scholar (12th century) to the ancient scholars of Greece and Rome:
- [The phrase] sums up the quality of the cathedral schools in the history of learning, and indeed characterizes the age which opened with Gerbert (950-1003) and FulbertFulbert of ChartresFulbert of Chartres –10 April 1028) was the bishop of the Cathedral of Chartres from 1006 till 1028. He was a teacher at the Cathedral school there, he was responsible for the advancement of the celebration of the Feast day of “Nativity of the Virgin”, and he was responsible for one of the...
(960-1028) and closed in the first quarter of the 12th century with Peter AbelardPeter AbelardPeter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. The story of his affair with and love for Héloïse has become legendary...
. [The phrase] is not a great claim; neither, however, is it an example of abasement before the shrine of antiquity. It is a very shrewd and just remark, and the important and original point was the dwarf could see a little further than the giant. That this was possible was above all due to the cathedral schools with their lack of a well-rooted tradition and their freedom from a clearly defined routine of study.
The visual image (from Bernard of Chartres) appears in the stained glass of the south transept of Chartres Cathedral. The tall windows under the Rose Window show the four major prophets of the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) as gigantic figures, and the four New Testament evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) as ordinary-size people sitting on their shoulders. The evangelists, though smaller, "see more" than the huge prophets (since they saw the Messiah about whom the prophets spoke).
The phrase also appears in the works of the Jewish tosaphist
Tosafot
The Tosafot or Tosafos are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes...
Isaiah di Trani
Isaiah di Trani
Isaiah di Trani ben Mali , better known as the RID, was a prominent Italian Talmudist.- Biography:...
(c. 1180 – c. 1250):
- "Should JoshuaJoshuaJoshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
the son of Nun endorse a mistaken position, I would reject it out of hand, I do not hesitate to express my opinion, regarding such matters in accordance with the modicum of intelligence alloted to me. I was never arrogant claiming "My Wisdom served me well". Instead I applied to myself the parable of the philosophers. For I heard the following from the philosophers, The wisest of the philosophers asked: "We admit that our predecessors were wiser than we. At the same time we criticize their comments, often rejecting them and claiming that the truth rests with us. How is this possible?" The wise philosopher responded: "Who sees further a dwarf or a giant? Surely a giant for his eyes are situated at a higher level than those of the dwarf. But if the dwarf is placed on the shoulders of the giant who sees further? ... So too we are dwarfs astride the shoulders of giants. We master their wisdom and move beyond it. Due to their wisdom we grow wise and are able to say all that we say, but not because we are greater than they."
Application to the free software movement
The metaphor of "standing on the shoulder of giants" is often used to promote and validate the Free software movementFree software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
.
In the book Free as in Freedom
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software is a free book licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License about the life of Richard Stallman, written by Sam Williams and published by O'Reilly Media on March 1, 2002.Williams conducted several interviews with Stallman during...
, Bob Young of Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
supports the Free software movement
Free software movement
The free software movement is a social and political movement with the goal of ensuring software users' four basic freedoms: the freedom to run their software, to study and change their software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes. The alternative terms "software libre", "open...
by saying that it enables people to stand on the shoulders of giants. He also says that standing on the shoulders of giants is the opposite of Reinventing the wheel
Reinventing the wheel
To reinvent the wheel is to duplicate a basic method that has already previously been created or optimized by others.The inspiration for this idiomatic metaphor lies in the fact that the wheel is the archetype of human ingenuity, both by virtue of the added power and flexibility it affords its...
.
An excerpt from the book
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software is a free book licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License about the life of Richard Stallman, written by Sam Williams and published by O'Reilly Media on March 1, 2002.Williams conducted several interviews with Stallman during...
:
- "In the western scientific tradition we stand on the shoulders of giants, says Young,
- echoing both Torvalds and Sir Isaac Newton before him. “In business, this translates
- to not having to reinvent wheels as we go along. The beauty of [the GPL] model is you
- put your code into the public domain. If you're an independent software vendor and
- you're trying to build some application and you need a modem-dialer, well, why reinvent
- modem dialers? You can just steal PPP off of Red Hat Linux and use that as the core
- of your modem-dialing tool. If you need a graphic tool set, you don't have to write your
- own graphic library. Just download GTK. Suddenly you have the ability to reuse the
- best of what went before. And suddenly your focus as an application vendor is less on
- software management and more on writing the applications specific to your customer's
- needs."
Another excerpt from the book
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software
Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software is a free book licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License about the life of Richard Stallman, written by Sam Williams and published by O'Reilly Media on March 1, 2002.Williams conducted several interviews with Stallman during...
quoted by Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds
Linus Benedict Torvalds is a Finnish software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the open source Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator...
:
- "Integrating GCC improved the performance of Linux. It also raised issues. Although
- the GPL's “viral” powers didn't apply to the Linux kernel, Torvald's willingness to borrow
- GCC for the purposes of his own free software operating system indicated a certain
- obligation to let other users borrow back. As Torvalds would later put it: “I had hoisted
- myself up on the shoulders of giants.”74 Not surprisingly, he began to think about what
- would happen when other people looked to him for similar support."
Contemporary references
- The British two pound coinBritish Two Pound coinThe British two pound coin was first issued as a commemorative coin in 1986 to celebrate the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. Six further commemorative issues followed between 1989 and 1996...
bears the inscription STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS on its edge; this is intended as a quotation of Newton. - Google ScholarGoogle ScholarGoogle Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online journals of Europe and America's largest...
has adopted "Stand on the shoulders of giants" as its mottoMottoA motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...
. - In Umberto EcoUmberto EcoUmberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
's novel, The Name of the RoseThe Name of the RoseThe Name of the Rose is the first novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
, William of BaskervilleWilliam of BaskervilleWilliam of Baskerville is a fictional Franciscan friar from the novel Il nome della rosa by Umberto Eco...
utters the words when speaking to Nicholas of MorimondoMorimondoMorimondo is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 20 km southwest of Milan.-External links:*...
, the master glazierGlazierA Glazier is a construction professional who selects, cuts, installs, replaces, and removes residential, commercial, and artistic glass. Glaziers also install aluminum storefront frames and entrances, glass handrails and balustrades, shower enclosures, curtain wall framing and glass and mirror...
at the monastery. Nicholas says about his art: "We no longer have the learning of the ancients, the age of giants is past!", to which William replies: "We are dwarfs, but dwarfs who stand on the shoulders of those giants, and small though we are, we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they". - Linux MintLinux MintLinux Mint is a Linux-based computer operating system best known for its usability and ease of installation, particularly for users with no previous GNU/Linux experience...
installation slideshow has a slide titled "Standing on the shoulder of giants" meaning UbuntuUbuntu (operating system)Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
, DebianDebianDebian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
and GNUGNUGNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
. - It is referenced by Mark ZuckerbergMark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
, played by Jesse EisenbergJesse EisenbergJesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...
, in the 2010 film The Social NetworkThe Social NetworkThe Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
. - The fourth studio album from British rock band OasisOasis (band)Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
is titled "Standing on the Shoulder of GiantsStanding on the Shoulder of GiantsStanding on the Shoulder of Giants is the fourth studio album by English rock band Oasis, released on 28 February 2000. The album is the 16th fastest selling album in UK chart history, selling over 310,000 copies in its first week...
". - In Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm argues that John Hammond's research and advancement in the field of geneticsGeneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
was based on the work of those before him, limiting his responsibility in whatever happens, stating: "You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could..." - The X-Files episode "Roland" features a scientist murdering his former colleagues from beyond the grave for taking credit for his research. At the final confrontation, the thieving scientist remarks "If I have seen further than other men it's because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."
- Stephen HawkingStephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
's compilation of works by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, NewtonIsaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
, and Einstein is entitled On The Shoulders of Giants. The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy, (Running Press 2002) ISBN 076241698X. - The American rock band R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
uses the phrase "Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold" in the song "King of Birds" from their fifth studio album DocumentDocument (album)Robert Christgau praised the album, and called "It's the End of the World as We Know It " an "inspirational title." Stephan Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that "Where Lifes Rich Pageant sounded a bit like a party record, Document is a fiery statement, and its memorable melodies and riffs are made...
.