According to Emerson, the drawback of relying too much on books is:
- They glorify past endeavors and may stifle future creativity.
from ,begin bold,The American Scholar,end bold,
Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire. I had better never see a book than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. The one thing in the world of value is the active soul,—the soul, free, sovereign, active. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him, although in almost all men obstructed, and as yet unborn. The soul active sees absolute truth and utters truth, or creates. In this action it is genius; not the privilege of here and there a favorite, but the sound estate of every man. In its essence it is progressive. The book, the college, the school of art, the institution of any kind, stop with some past utterance of genius. This is good, say they,—let us hold by this. They pin me down. They look backward and not forward. But genius always looks forward. The eyes of man are set in his forehead, not in his hindhead. Man hopes. Genius creates.
(from "The American Scholar" by Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Question
According to Emerson, what is a drawback of relying too much on books?
Answer options with 4 options
1.
They have a short-lived effect on most scholars.
2.
They purport to be objective and may skew facts.
3.
They do not provide a person with a complete education.
4.
They glorify past endeavors and may stifle future creativity.
1 answer