A lot of my dissertation work right now seems superficial, because it all seems so obvious. But nobody has said these things yet, so they haven't entered into the front-of-the-mind pool of things we draw on.
Rabbinic epistemology is not very hard to plumb. Part of my dissertation does this.
Stating the obvious is underrated. Scholarship - or important thought of whatever kind - is not always about making profound observations; sometimes it's about bringing to the fore what might otherwise be overlooked. We overlook great things sometimes, so how much the more so do we overlook small things.
Either that, or these are self-serving thoughts to justify a not-so-impressive dissertation. Well, at least I'll have something to say at job interviews if I'm called out on this.
No comments:
Post a Comment