Between Consolation and Clarity: Zettelkasten and the Return to Rigorous Thinking

Martin

Honouring effort or recognising achievement?

In modern educational practice - and increasingly also in administrative contexts - a change can be observed: The focus on results and verifiable qualities is being replaced by a rhetoric of endeavour. It is not the actual achievement that is honoured, but the mere attempt; it is not the substance that counts, but the subjective perception of effort.

From an epistemological perspective, this is an expression of subject-centred, therapeutic thinking that promises protection but undermines the ability to judge. After all, truth, the power of judgement and the ability to think independently are not created through consolation, but through confrontation with difference - between right and wrong, between good enough and better.

‘Those who only ever reward effort prevent the maturation of the power of judgement.’

The Zettelkasten - both as a method and as a mindset - represents a counter-figure here: It does not ask whether someone has thought, but what comes out of it. It allows mistakes, but only as a productive disruption in the service of greater clarity. In it, depth is not confused with labour, but with methodical repetition, connection and verification.

‘Education is not about the cosy feeling of being on the side of the good - but the art of forming, examining and taking responsibility for the right thoughts and actions.’

In practice, this means likewise for science, teaching and personnel decisions:
It is not effort alone that is relevant, but the transformation of effort into form, quality and responsibility. This seems to be the way to achieve justice - towards the learners, the participants and the tasks themselves.