Renaissance man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Renaissance man or Homo universalis is a common term that refers to a person who excels in many fields of work and knowledge. The term comes from the seemingly great number of activities famous Renaissance masters were involved in. For instance, Leonardo da Vinci was an expert in art, mathematics and engineering, as well as many other fields. 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 term often comes into use when bemoaning the fact that there are no renaissance men left in the world. Some people explain this by saying that during the Renaissance, it was easier to be an expert in all fields, as the total sum of knowledge was considerably smaller than it is today. And that since there is much more material to be known in any one field today, broad coverage at any sort of expert level is simply impossible.
In modern education there is a trend towards specialisation rather than a general knowledge of many fields.
