Nostalgie et translatio studii’: l’image des « nains juches sur des épaules de géants »

Abstract

Nostalgia and translatio studii: “The image of dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants” “We are dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants,” this famous image that John of Salisbury attributed to Bernard of Chartres was very popular throughout the Middle Ages, and far beyond, until it became the motto of Google Scholar. First, it expresses the respect and admiration that the masters of the twelfth century had for the authors of Antiquity whose works they commented on. But the formula is more complex than it seems and is not reduced to its nostalgic and backward-looking dimension, it is also forward-looking and allows to affirm the idea of progress, the cumulative dimension of knowledge and translatio studii, since the dwarf perched on a giant sees farther than the one who supports him.