Toward a Modern Science of Polymathy: From Historical Traditions of Wide-Ranging Learning to a Consolidated Breadth–Depth–Integration Triadic Approach

Polymathy—the pursuit, development, and application of broad and deep knowledge in integrated ways—has a 2,500-year intellectual history, yet scholars lacks a cumulative framework for studying it. We reconstruct the development of polymathy from ancient Greece to modern day, showing how recurring debates about range, mastery, true understanding and inquiry, and social contribution have shaped the construct. We then map 103 academic works published from 1931 through August 2026, revealing rapid recent growth alongside conceptual and methodological fragmentation across disciplines, such as psychology and history. Analyzing and integrating the historical and modern literatures, we advance the Triadic Approach to Polymathy, which defines polymathy through the conjunction of three qualities: breadth, depth, and integration. We further distinguish different manifestations and levels of polymathy, involving dispositions, orientations, mastery, accomplishment, and social recognition. This systematization is crucial to study polymathy cumulatively and in relation to other well-developed constructs and theories in psychology, education, and the broad social sciences.