The limitations of erudition

Abstract

The aim of the Scholarship Erudition is the fact-finding, and it is to be made by the analysis of documentation. The choice of the facts to be analyzed, however, is subjective and could lead to wrong conclusions. A good example is given by the codex Cam. B. Armadio 2.I of the Classense Library in Ravenna. Inside the codex there is a note by Santi Muratori, the librarian of Classense. The note says the book is to throw away. An analysis of the codex reveals that it is a collection of dissertations and commentaries with quotations from the Fathers of the Church, from Plato and Plotinus, and sometimes the poems of Dante. Probably, the book was for aloud reading during meals of the Camaldolese monks and it reveals a remarkable intellectual liveliness of the monastic community. The codex reveals itself as a good tool for a better knowledge of the Camaldolese’s community, despite of the negative rating by Santi Muratori.