Topic
Discovery in this collection is the moment when the existing world becomes legible in a new way. Galileo's all-truths-are-easy-to-understand-once-discovered is the epistemological surprise: the difficulty of discovery makes it seem the result was difficult, when the obstacle was the path rather than the destination. His you-can-only-help-someone-discover-for-themselves is the pedagogical instruction: discovery cannot be transmitted, only facilitated. Emerson on the weed-whose-virtues-have-never-been-discovered gives every overlooked thing a latent value: the undiscovered is not worthless but unrecognized. Allen on the man-as-master-gardener-of-his-soul is the discovery applied inward: self-knowledge is not given but excavated. Darwin on wasting-an-hour is discovery as obligation: the people who have made discoveries know too well what time costs to spend it carelessly. James on the greatest discovery of the generation — that attitude shapes life — is the most democratically available finding: the laboratory is the self.