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51-510: We know from the Italian polymath and 'gambling scholar' Girolamo Cardano that Trappola was current in Venice "as early as 1524 and probably invented there". The original Venetian version described by Cardano in reasonable detail was for only two players and played without trumps or bidding. It is also the earliest known trick-taking game where the ace has been promoted above the king and played with

102-400: A specialist —is used to describe a person with a general approach to knowledge. The term universal genius or versatile genius is also used, with Leonardo da Vinci as the prime example again. The term is used especially for people who made lasting contributions in at least one of the fields in which they were actively involved and when they took a universality of approach. When a person

153-534: A stripped deck . From the 17th to 19th centuries, the game became popular in Central Europe after it declined in its homeland. In the 18th century, Central Europeans created versions that included three or four players, partnerships, trumps, and bidding. One particularly widespread descendant was Hundertspiel , also misleadingly called Hunderteins-Spiel , whose rules first appear in an 1824 treatise and in which two teams of two players competed to be first to reach

204-474: A comprehensive historical overview of the ascension and decline of the polymath as, what he calls, an "intellectual species". He observes that in ancient and medieval times, scholars did not have to specialize. However, from the 17th century on, the rapid rise of new knowledge in the Western world—both from the systematic investigation of the natural world and from the flow of information coming from other parts of

255-580: A mix of occupations or of intellectual interests, Ahmed urges a breaking of the "thinker"/"doer" dichotomy and the art/science dichotomy. He argues that an orientation towards action and towards thinking support each other, and that human beings flourish by pursuing a diversity of experiences as well as a diversity of knowledge. He observes that successful people in many fields have cited hobbies and other "peripheral" activities as supplying skills or insights that helped them succeed. Ahmed examines evidence suggesting that developing multiple talents and perspectives

306-436: A new model of education that better promotes creativity and innovation: "we must focus education on principles, methods, and skills that will serve them [students] in learning and creating across many disciplines, multiple careers, and succeeding life stages". Peter Burke , Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College at Cambridge, discussed the theme of polymathy in some of his works. He has presented

357-451: A player points and/or allow them to deplete their hand. Melds typically come in sequences of ascending cards belonging to the same suit known as runs ( 8 ♠   9 ♠   10 ♠ ) or sets/groups of cards of identical rank ( 8 ♠   8 ♣   8 ♥ ). Other ones may be marriage (e.g. K ♥ and Q ♥ ) and bezique (Q ♠ and J ♦ ). Melding is typical in games of the rummy family , such as canasta and gin . It

408-415: A rule book for the game of "Trappola (Bulka)" which describes rules for 3-4 players. The earliest surviving rules were recorded by Gerolamo Cardano in his 1564 Liber de Ludo Aleae . Trappola, in its original form, is a game for 2 players, the dealer and an opponent, with 9 cards dealt to each player in batches of five and then four. The opponent, if not satisfied with his cards, may discard them face up on

459-423: A single issue. Ahmed cites biologist E. O. Wilson 's view that reality is approached not by a single academic discipline but via a consilience between them. One argument for studying multiple approaches is that it leads to open-mindedness . Within any one perspective, a question may seem to have a straightforward, settled answer. Someone aware of different, contrasting answers will be more open-minded and aware of

510-408: A society, company, community, guild, corporation , etc". At this time, universities did not specialize in specific areas, but rather trained students in a broad array of science, philosophy, and theology. This universal education gave them a grounding from which they could continue into apprenticeship toward becoming a master of a specific field. When someone is called a "Renaissance man" today, it

561-484: A trick, provided that, having only three, they have not already captured the fourth in a trick. The player does not specify their rank but only declares 'three figures' or 'four figures', except in the case of aces, where they explicitly declare 3 or 4 aces. The player doesn't have to show the cards nor disclose their suits. Because a declaration of figures in the case of them being deuces will carry different points then if they were Kings, Cavaliers or Jacks, this declaration

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612-463: A typology of polymathy, ranging from the ubiquitous mini-c polymathy to the eminent but rare Big-C polymathy, as well as a model with some requirements for a person (polymath or not) to be able to reach the highest levels of creative accomplishment. They account for three general requirements—intelligence, motivation to be creative, and an environment that allows creative expression—that are needed for any attempt at creativity to succeed. Then, depending on

663-524: Is "Τράπουλα", a transliteration of Trappola. It may have entered Greek from the Venetian-occupied Ionian Islands during the 16th century. In Corfu , Aspioti-ELKA produced Venetian pattern cards until 1940. Trappola card production ceased in 1944, the last packs being produced in Prague . However in 1988, Piatnik restarted production of a 36-card pack using a design of Trappola cards made in

714-437: Is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Embodying a basic tenet of Renaissance humanism that humans are limitless in their capacity for development, the concept led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. This is expressed in the term Renaissance man , often applied to

765-418: Is considered the principal responsible for rekindling interest in polymathy in the scientific community. His works emphasize the contrast between the polymath and two other types: the specialist and the dilettante. The specialist demonstrates depth but lacks breadth of knowledge. The dilettante demonstrates superficial breadth but tends to acquire skills merely "for their own sake without regard to understanding

816-411: Is contrasted with the idea of narrowness, specialization, and the restriction of one's expertise to a limited domain. The possession of comprehensive knowledge at very disparate areas is a hallmark of the greatest polymaths. Depth refers to the vertical accumulation of knowledge and the degree of elaboration or sophistication of one's sets of one's conceptual network. Like Robert Root-Bernstein, Araki uses

867-399: Is described as having encyclopedic knowledge , they exhibit a vast scope of knowledge. However, this designation may be anachronistic in the case of persons such as Eratosthenes , whose reputation for having encyclopedic knowledge predates the existence of any encyclopedic object . Meld (cards) In card games , a meld is a set of matching cards, typically three or more, that earn

918-472: Is helpful for success in a highly specialised field. He cites a study of Nobel Prize-winning scientists which found them 25 times more likely to sing, dance, or act than average scientists. Another study found that children scored higher in IQ tests after having drum lessons, and he uses such research to argue that diversity of domains can enhance a person's general intelligence. Ahmed cites many historical claims for

969-513: Is meant that rather than simply having broad interests or superficial knowledge in several fields, the individual possesses a more profound knowledge and a proficiency, or even an expertise, in at least some of those fields. Some dictionaries use the term "Renaissance man" to describe someone with many interests or talents, while others give a meaning restricted to the Renaissance and more closely related to Renaissance ideals. Robert Root-Bernstein

1020-516: Is presented in a 2018 article with two main objectives: The model, which was designed to reflect a structural model, has five major components: Regarding the definition of the term polymathy, the researcher, through an analysis of the extant literature, concluded that although there are a multitude of perspectives on polymathy, most of them ascertain that polymathy entails three core elements: breadth, depth and integration. Breadth refers to comprehensiveness, extension and diversity of knowledge. It

1071-541: Is reported to be played in Trieste . The earliest standard pattern associated with this game dates to the mid-17th century. It may have been inspired by the cards used in Trento which lay between Venice and Austria. Trappola cards are among the first to become double-ended in the 18th century. Trappola packs have only 36 cards, lacking numerals from three to six, and using the Italian suits of swords, batons, cups and coins. It uses

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1122-410: Is scored only when the trick-play is over and it is evident which was the case. The opponent leads to the first trick, and the winner of this trick then leads to the next. Suit must be followed if possible, otherwise any card may be played. A trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led. After all cards are played, the score is calculated by adding the points from melds declared at the start of

1173-740: The Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1875. A genuine Trappola game, perhaps the only known survivor of the Trappola group is the game Stovkahra , also known as Brčko, played by the Czechs of Romania in the village of Șumița , situated in the Banat region of Romania. In the absence of readily available Trappola cards, players there have resorted to using a 32-card German-suited deck . The reverse game, Coteccio , name applied to various negative point trick games in Italy

1224-565: The Diatribae upon the first part of the late History of Tithes of Richard Montagu in 1621. Use in English of the similar term polyhistor dates from the late 16th century. The term "Renaissance man" was first recorded in written English in the early 20th century. It is used to refer to great thinkers living before, during, or after the Renaissance . Leonardo da Vinci has often been described as

1275-504: The gifted people of that age who sought to develop their abilities in all areas of accomplishment: intellectual, artistic, social, physical, and spiritual. In Western Europe, the first work to use the term polymathy in its title ( De Polymathia tractatio: integri operis de studiis veterum ) was published in 1603 by Johann von Wowern , a Hamburg philosopher. Von Wowern defined polymathy as "knowledge of various matters, drawn from all kinds of studies ... ranging freely through all

1326-452: The Italian face cards of King, Cavalier and Foot-soldier (Jack). The names of the suits, called Denáry (Coins), Kopy (Cups), Špády (Swords), and Baštony (Batons) in Czech, are loan words borrowed from their Italian counterparts. Trappola cards were last regularly manufactured in around 1948 by Piatnik. In 1988, Piatnik issued a facsimile set which is still available. It is accompanied by

1377-431: The advantages of polymathy. Some of these are about general intellectual abilities that polymaths apply across multiple domains. For example, Aristotle wrote that full understanding of a topic requires, in addition to subject knowledge, a general critical thinking ability that can assess how that knowledge was arrived at. Another advantage of a polymathic mindset is in the application of multiple approaches to understanding

1428-549: The aesthetic and structural/scientific connections between mathematics, arts and the sciences. In 2009, Sriraman published a paper reporting a 3-year study with 120 pre-service mathematics teachers and derived several implications for mathematics pre-service education as well as interdisciplinary education. He utilized a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to recreate the emotions, voices and struggles of students as they tried to unravel Russell's paradox presented in its linguistic form. They found that those more engaged in solving

1479-462: The archetype of the Renaissance man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". Many notable polymaths lived during the Renaissance period, a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th through to the 17th century that began in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spread to the rest of Europe. These polymaths had a rounded approach to education that reflected

1530-744: The basis of creative giftedness ask not 'who is creative?' but 'what is the basis of creative thinking?' From the polymathy perspective, giftedness is the ability to combine disparate (or even apparently contradictory) ideas, sets of problems, skills, talents, and knowledge in novel and useful ways. Polymathy is therefore the main source of any individual's creative potential". In "Life Stages of Creativity", Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein suggest six typologies of creative life stages. These typologies are based on real creative production records first published by Root-Bernstein, Bernstein, and Garnier (1993). Finally, his studies suggest that understanding polymathy and learning from polymathic exemplars can help structure

1581-544: The big picture—and for analysis. He says: "It takes a polymath to 'mind the gap' and draw attention to the knowledges that may otherwise disappear into the spaces between disciplines, as they are currently defined and organized". Bharath Sriraman , of the University of Montana, also investigated the role of polymathy in education. He poses that an ideal education should nurture talent in the classroom and enable individuals to pursue multiple fields of research and appreciate both

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1632-404: The broader applications or implications and without integrating it". Conversely, the polymath is a person with a level of expertise that is able to "put a significant amount of time and effort into their avocations and find ways to use their multiple interests to inform their vocations". A key point in the work of Root-Bernstein and colleagues is the argument in favor of the universality of

1683-447: The concept of dilettancy as a contrast to the idea of profound learning that polymathy entails. Integration, although not explicit in most definitions of polymathy, is also a core component of polymathy according to the author. Integration involves the capacity of connecting, articulating, concatenating or synthesizing different conceptual networks, which in non-polymathic persons might be segregated. In addition, integration can happen at

1734-499: The creative process. That is, although creative products, such as a painting, a mathematical model or a poem, can be domain-specific, at the level of the creative process, the mental tools that lead to the generation of creative ideas are the same, be it in the arts or science. These mental tools are sometimes called intuitive tools of thinking. It is therefore not surprising that many of the most innovative scientists have serious hobbies or interests in artistic activities, and that some of

1785-555: The domain of choice, more specific abilities will be required. The more that one's abilities and interests match the requirements of a domain, the better. While some will develop their specific skills and motivations for specific domains, polymathic people will display intrinsic motivation (and the ability) to pursue a variety of subject matters across different domains. Regarding the interplay of polymathy and education, they suggest that rather than asking whether every student has multicreative potential, educators might more actively nurture

1836-471: The fields of the disciplines, as far as the human mind, with unwearied industry, is able to pursue them". Von Wowern lists erudition, literature, philology , philomathy , and polyhistory as synonyms. The earliest recorded use of the term in the English language is from 1624, in the second edition of The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton ; the form polymathist is slightly older, first appearing in

1887-469: The game, the points from captured cards, and bonuses achieved. After scoring this hand, the opponent becomes the next dealer. Polymath A polymath ( Greek : πολυμαθής , romanized :  polymathēs , lit.   'having learned much'; Latin : homo universalis , lit.   'universal human') or polyhistor ( Greek : πολυΐστωρ , romanized :  polyīstor , lit.   'well-learned')

1938-1502: The great scholars and thinkers of the Renaissance and Enlightenment , who excelled at several fields in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the arts. In the Italian Renaissance , the idea of the polymath was allegedly expressed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), a polymath himself, in the statement that "a man can do all things if he will". Well-known and celebrated polymaths include Avicenna , Leonardo da Vinci , Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz , Robert Hooke , Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , Christian Wolff , Al-Biruni , Hildegard of Bingen , Ibn al-Haytham , Rabindranath Tagore , Mikhail Lomonosov , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Alan Turing , Benjamin Franklin , John von Neumann , Omar Khayyam , Charles Sanders Peirce , Henri Poincaré , Nicolaus Copernicus , Johann Weikhard von Valvasor , René Descartes , Aristotle , Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor , Averroes , Archimedes , Hypatia , Blaise Pascal , Isaac Newton , Leonhard Euler , Nikola Tesla , Thomas Edison , Bertrand Russell , Thomas Young , Sequoyah , Thomas Jefferson , Pierre-Simon Laplace , Friedrich Engels , Satyajit Ray and William Whewell . Aside from Renaissance man , similar terms in use are homo universalis ( Latin ) and uomo universale ( Italian ), which translate to 'universal man'. The related term generalist —contrasted with

1989-490: The ideals of the humanists of the time. A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play a musical instrument , write poetry , and so on; thus fulfilling the Renaissance ideal . The idea of a universal education was essential to achieving polymath ability, hence the word university was used to describe a seat of learning. However, the original Latin word universitas refers in general to "a number of persons associated into one body,

2040-702: The individual and wider society. It suggests that the complex problems of the 21st century need the versatility, creativity, and broad perspectives characteristic of polymaths. For individuals, Ahmed says, specialisation is dehumanising and stifles their full range of expression whereas polymathy "is a powerful means to social and intellectual emancipation" which enables a more fulfilling life. In terms of social progress, he argues that answers to specific problems often come from combining knowledge and skills from multiple areas, and that many important problems are multi-dimensional in nature and cannot be fully understood through one specialism. Rather than interpreting polymathy as

2091-445: The intellectual climate, it has since then been more common to find "passive polymaths", who consume knowledge in various domains but make their reputation in one single discipline, than "proper polymaths", who—through a feat of "intellectual heroism"—manage to make serious contributions to several disciplines. However, Burke warns that in the age of specialization, polymathic people are more necessary than ever, both for synthesis—to paint

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2142-536: The limitations of their own knowledge. The importance of recognising these limitations is a theme that Ahmed finds in many thinkers, including Confucius , Ali ibn Abi Talib , and Nicolas of Cusa . He calls it "the essential mark of the polymath." A further argument for multiple approaches is that a polymath does not see diverse approaches as diverse, because they see connections where other people see differences. For example da Vinci advanced multiple fields by applying mathematical principles to each. Polymaths include

2193-514: The most innovative artists have an interest or hobbies in the sciences. Root-Bernstein and colleagues' research is an important counterpoint to the claim by some psychologists that creativity is a domain-specific phenomenon. Through their research, Root-Bernstein and colleagues conclude that there are certain comprehensive thinking skills and tools that cross the barrier of different domains and can foster creative thinking: "[creativity researchers] who discuss integrating ideas from diverse fields as

2244-547: The multicreative potential of their students. As an example, the authors cite that teachers should encourage students to make connections across disciplines, use different forms of media to express their reasoning/understanding (e.g., drawings, movies, and other forms of visual media). In his 2018 book The Polymath , British author Waqas Ahmed defines polymaths as those who have made significant contributions to at least three different fields. Rather than seeing polymaths as exceptionally gifted, he argues that every human being has

2295-538: The paradox also displayed more polymathic thinking traits. He concludes by suggesting that fostering polymathy in the classroom may help students change beliefs, discover structures and open new avenues for interdisciplinary pedagogy. Michael Araki is a professor at the UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He sought to formalize in a general model how the development of polymathy takes place. His Developmental Model of Polymathy (DMP)

2346-430: The personality level, when the person is able to integrate their diverse activities in a synergic whole, which can also mean a psychic (motivational, emotional and cognitive) integration. Finally, the author also suggests that, via a psychoeconomic approach, polymathy can be seen as a "life project". That is, depending on a person's temperament, endowments, personality, social situation and opportunities (or lack thereof),

2397-477: The potential to become one: that people naturally have multiple interests and talents. He contrasts this polymathic nature against what he calls "the cult of specialisation". For example, education systems stifle this nature by forcing learners to specialise in narrow topics. The book argues that specialisation encouraged by the production lines of the Industrial Revolution is counter-productive both to

2448-588: The project of a polymathic self-formation may present itself to the person as more or less alluring and more or less feasible to be pursued. James C. Kaufman , from the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, and Ronald A. Beghetto, from the same university, investigated the possibility that everyone could have the potential for polymathy as well as the issue of the domain-generality or domain-specificity of creativity. Based on their earlier four-c model of creativity, Beghetto and Kaufman proposed

2499-577: The table and take in their place the first nine cards of the stock. If still not satisfied, they may do the same thing again, but must then play with the last nine cards taken from the stock. If they leave any, the dealer may then exercise the same option either once or twice, depending on how many cards remain. Exposed discards may not be taken up during the play. The cards are ranked from highest to lowest: A K C J 10 9 8 7 2 in each suit. A player holding three or four Aces, Kings, Cavaliers, Jacks, or Deuces, may declare them any time before playing one of them to

2550-523: The target of 100 points, hence the name. Trappola's focus on winning the last trick with a low card influenced other card games such as Tapp-Tarock . Other forms of Trappola, like Špady and Šestadvacet, were popular in the Czechoslovakia before World War II when the last Trappola cards were produced. Trappola is likely to be the first card game encountered by Greeks as the Greek word for a deck of playing cards

2601-399: The world—was making it increasingly difficult for individual scholars to master as many disciplines as before. Thus, an intellectual retreat of the polymath species occurred: "from knowledge in every [academic] field to knowledge in several fields, and from making original contributions in many fields to a more passive consumption of what has been contributed by others". Given this change in

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