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.
Life is a travelling to the edge of knowledge, then a leap taken.
Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
All the extraordinary men I have ever known were chiefly extraordinary in their own estimation.
Many people think that it is the function of a spiritual teaching to provide answers to life's biggest questions, _x000D_ but actually, the opposite is true. _x000D_ _x000D_ The primary task of any good spiritual teaching is not to _x000D_ answer your questions, but to question your answers.
We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.
Listen carefully, my child, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father's advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.