Speech on ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’
Answers
Necessity is the mother of invention" is an English-language proverb. It means, roughly, that the primary driving force for most new inventions is a need.[1]
Meaning Edit
The need to communicate led to the creation of different communication devices – this is a prime example of the expression: Necessity is the mother of invention.
In the Oxford Dictionary, the proverb has been defined as;
"When the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it."[2]
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, this is "an expression that means that if you really need to do something, you will think of a way of doing it."[3]
Longman dictionary has defined the proverb as: "if someone really needs to do something, they will find a way of doing it."[4]
History Edit
The author of this proverb is unknown. It is commonly misattributed to Plato due to Benjamin Jowett's popular idiomatic 1871 translation of Plato's Republic, where in Book II, 369c, his translation reads: "The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention." Jowett's translation is noted for injecting the kind of flowery language popular among his Victorian-era audience. Jowett himself, in Plato's Republic: The Greek Text, Vol. III "Notes", 1894, p. 82, gives a literal translation of Plato as "our need will be the real creator", without the proverbial flourish.
Before Jowett's translation, the phrase was familiar to England in Latin, though seemingly not in English. In 1519, the headmaster of Winchester and Eton, William Horman, used the Latin phrase Mater artium necessitas ("The mother of invention is necessity") in his book Vulgaria, of unknown provenance. In 1545 Roger Ascham used a close English version, "Necessitie, the inventour of all goodnesse", in his book Toxophilus. In 1608, George Chapman, in his two-part play The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, used a very similar phrase: "The great Mother / Of all productions, grave Necessity." But the earliest actual usage of the proverb "Necessity is the mother of invention" in English is usually ascribed to Richard Franck, who used it in his book Northern Memoirs, calculated for the meridian of Scotland (1658).[1]
Answer:
"Necessity is the mother of invention"
Necessity is the mother of invention means that when put in a difficult situation, one is likely to think and be inspired to create a novel or ingenious solution. Plato is often credited with this phrase. This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. However, the proverb was well known before it appeared in translations of his works. This proverb has been around for centuries and proven to be a fact of life in every ages of human history.
The primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. When put in a difficult situation, one is likely to be inspired to create a novel or ingenious solution. A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or solve the problem. For instance, the necessity to move bigger, heavier and larger quantities of goods and the need to travel longer distances lead to the invention of wheels which evolved into motor vehicles and trains. We now have ships to sail across vast oceans and planes to fly long distances in a much shorter time never imagined before.
When a necessity cannot be attained by existing means, we are naturally compelled to use our mental faculty and find ways to meet our needs. So a need or problem leads to creative efforts to solve the problem. Necessity is indeed the main force behind every new invention and discovery.