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INTRODUCTION
Felixquipotuitrerumcognoscerecausa
Vergil
AttheendoftheseventeenthcenturyYamamotoTsunetomowrote
Hagakurethecodeofthesamurai.Itwasamanual,whichconsistedof
aseriesofshortanecdotesandreflectionsforthesamurais.Threecenturies
laterthebookwastranslatedintoEnglish.Oneoftheentriesinthatbook
reads:
Acertainswordsmaninhisdecliningyearssaidthefollowing:“In
one’slife,therearelevelsinthepursuitofstudy.Inthelowestlevel,
apersonstudiesbutnothingcomesofit,andhefeelsthatbothheand
othersareunskillful.Atthispointheisworthless.Inthemiddlelevel
heisstilluselessbutisawareofhisowninsufficienciesandcanalso
seetheinsufficienciesofothers.Inahigherlevelhehasprideconcern-
inghisownability,rejoicesinpraisefromothers.Thismanhasworth.
Inthehighestlevelamanhasthelookofknowingnothing.Theseare
thelevelsingeneral.Butthereisonetranscendinglevel,anditisthe
mostexcellentofall.Thispersonisawareoftheendlessnessofenter-
ingdeeplyintoacertainWayandneverthinksofhimselfashaving
finished.Hetrulyknowshisinsufficienciesandneverthinksthathe
hassucceeded.Throughoutyourlifeadvancedaily,becomingmore
skillfulthanyesterday,moreskillfulthattoday.Thisisnever-ending”
(Tsunetomo1671).
Thesewordsmaybeconsideredasaninterestingexampleoftheseven-
teenthcenturyreflectiveapproach.Whatismore,theysoundedverysimilar
towordsofRogers(1969:104),whosaidthat:“Theonlymanwhoiseduca-
tedisthemanwhohaslearnedhowtoadaptandchange;themanwhohas
realizedthatnoknowledgeissecure;thatonlytheprocessofseeking
knowledgegivesabasisforsecurity”.However,thosewordsweresaidthree
centurieslater.Dakowska(1999)saidthattheprocessoflanguageteaching
andlanguagelearninginschoolconditionscannotbetreatedonlyasasphere