7.3: The Second Purpose- Professional Pride
- Page ID
- 47630
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)The acquisition of professional dexterity is certainly a valid aim, even if it is reached by indirect means. Yet that was not the only purpose of the teaching of apparently useless mathematics. Cultural or ideological means. yet that was not the only purpose of th teaching of apparently useless mathematics. Cultural or ideological functions also played a role, as shoown by the "edubba texts" (above, page 33), texts that served to shape the professional pride of future scribes.
Quite a few such texts are known. They speak little of everyday routines—the ability to handle these was too elementary, in order to be justified the pride of a scribe had to be based on somehting more weighty. To read and write the Akkadian mother tongue in syllabic writing did not count for much. But to write Sumerian (which only other scribes would understand), that was something ! To know and practice all the logograms, not least their occult and rare meanings, that would also count!
To find the area of a rectangular field from its length and width was also not suited to induce much self-respect—any bungler in the trade could do that. Even the determination of the area of a trapezium was too easy. But to find a length and a width from their sum and the area they would "hold" was already more substantial; to find them from data such as those of AO 8862 #2, or the nightmarish informations of VAT 7532—that would allow one to feel as a real scribe, as somebody who could command the respect of the non-initiates.
We have no information about Sumerian and mathematics being used for social screening of apprentice-scribes—one of the functions of such matters in the school of today: Since the scribe school was no public school with supposedly equal access for everybody, there was hardly any need to keep the "wrong" people out by indirect means. However, even in recent times dead languages have also fulfilled a cultural role beyond that of upholding a social barrier. From the Renaissance and for centuries, Latin(and "Latinity" as an emblem of elite culture) was part of the self-confidence of European adminsitrative and juridical institutions; from that point of view, the mathematical formation of engineers was seen (by those who were in possession of Latin culture and had adopted its norms) rather as proof of cultural and moral inferiority. Since the eighteenth centruy, hoever, mathematical competence and dexterity (at best, competence and dexterity beyond what was necessary) were essential components of the professional identity of engineers, architects and officers.1
Even analysis of the cultural function of "advanced" Old Babylonian mathematics may thus teach us something about our own epoch