When was the last time you learned something just out of curiosity? Not for school or to advance your career, with no end goal in sight. To learn something new just to learn it? 

Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis and the author of “Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life.” Her book explores the meaning and the value of learning through images and stories of bookworms, philosophers, scientists, and other learners, both fictional and historical. 

She writes and speaks on the human need to learn for its own sake and what it means for educational institutions to take that need seriously. Fun fact: she tweets at @zenahitz, where she is a frequent interlocutor with the rapper-turned-philosopher, MC Hammer.

In this conversation, Zena and Greg talk about what “learning for its own sake” means, solitary learning and detaching from the world, wasting time and attention and living life on autopilot.

How would you define learning for its own sake?

So say I'm thinking about a mathematical theorem. I'm not doing it for work. I'm not doing it to get a grade in my class. I'm just doing it because I'm interested in it. I want to know what the answer is. Now in a way I'm working towards a goal. But in another way, what I'm doing is from the outside kind of pointless. That's an example of learning for its own sake. 

Real thinking

Real thinking is a way of connecting with others. It's an engagement with someone else's thoughts. Usually, at the outset, something provokes you: a conversation, a book, a theorem, an idea, an observation, and you think about it.

How social class shapes religion

In our culture, religion is for working class, lower class people. And the higher you go, the less religion you have. The fewer commitments your religion requires of you. So, it's something I think about sometimes, it's the unspoken obstacle to diversity, which is supposed to be this thing that all the universities want.

Recommended Resources:

• The Clouds - Wikipedia
• Dorothy Day
• The Room Where It Happens
• Citizenship in a Republic

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at St. John’s College
• Speaker Profile at Princeton University Press
• Zena Hitz Website
• Zena Hitz on Twitter

Her Work:

• Catherine Project Website
• Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life