Men develop ideas and systems of explanation by absorbing past knowledge and critiquing and superseding it. Women, ignorant of their own history [do] not know what women before them had thought and taught. So generation after generation, they [struggle] for insights others had already had before them, [resulting in] the constant inventing of the wheel.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of understanding and building upon past knowledge to avoid redundancy and struggle.
Gerda Lerner highlights the way in which men often create new ideas and systems by learning from and evolving past understandings, while women may not have the same access to their historical contributions. This lack of awareness can lead to repeated struggles in discovering insights that have been previously established, ultimately suggesting that recognizing and honoring the past is crucial for growth and advancement.
In practice
In a seminar on women's studies, this quote could be used to discuss the need for historical awareness in women's contributions.
Everything that explains the world has in fact explained a world that does not exist, a world in which men are at the center of the human enterprise and women are at the margin "helping' them. Such a world does not exist - never has.
When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing.
I don't think you ever really know what all you're doing, so you have to act on faith.
As our knees and hips and eyesight deteriorate, we become more dependable, less impulsive, kinder, and less moody. Psychologists call this the maturity principle. My own life experience fits this principle to a T.
A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who doesn't play has lost forever the child who lived in him and who he will miss terribly.
Frodo drew himself up, and again Sam was startled by his words and his stern voice. 'On the Precious? How dare you?' he said. 'Think! Would you commit your promise to that, Smeagol? It will hold you. But it is more treacherous than you are. It may twist your words. Beware!
Is detachment the answer to freedom? No, because detachment is negative - it is to be without. The answer must be positive - I must replace what I have with something better.
I think we've debunked the myth of talent. It doesn't appear that there's anything like a music gene or center in the brain that Stevie Wonder has that nobody else has.
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