The Italian author Umberto Eco belonged to a rare breed—a
medievalist of encyclopedic erudition, a creative philosopher and a talented
novelist. Prompted by his recent death, Eco’s first novel, The Name of the Rose, has resurfaced in bookstands everywhere.
The virtue Aquinas opposes to curiositas is not humility, but
studiousness, that is, knowledge pursued well.
The parallel between the monastery with the vast library and a
globalized world with Internet access should now be clear. Aquinas thought of
curiositas as largely caused by acedia—i.e. spiritual laziness or aimlessness.
Who among us has not wasted hours on Wikipedia rather than completing the task
at hand?
