基本説明
様々な現象に偏在する知と表裏一体の愚かさに光を当て、知とは何かをも問うユーモアあふれるユニークな著。
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2003. '[A] weirdly wonderful compilation...Taking stupidity as the central feature of Western civilisation, van Boxsel ranges from wise fools to dumb blonedes, via laughing meadows and perfect idiots' - The Observer.
Full Description
Matthijs van Boxsel believes that no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity. In "The Encyclopaedia of Stupidity" he shows how stupidity manifests itself in all areas, in everyone, at all times: stupidity is the foundation of our civilization. In short sections with such titles as "The Blunderers' Club", "Fools in Hell", "Genealogy of Idiots", and "The Aesthetics of the Empty Gesture", stupidity is analyzed on the basis of fairy tales, cartoons, triumphal arches, garden architecture, Baroque ceilings, jokes, flimsy excuses and science fiction. But Van Boxsel wants to do more than just assemble a "shadow cabinet" of wisdom; he tries to fathom the logic of this opposite world. Where do understanding and intelligence begin and end? He examines mythic fools such as Cyclops and King Midas, cities such as Gotham, archetypes including the dumb blonde, and traditionally stupid animals such as the goose, the donkey and the headless chicken. van Boxsel posits that stupidity is a condition for intelligence, that blunders stimulate progress, that failure is the basis for success.In this witty book he maintains that our culture is the product of a series of failed attempts to comprehend stupidity.
