Reflections on the History of Encyclopaedias

Abstract

Ernest Gellner's model (1988) of the relation between production, coercion, & cognition is used to compare the social role of encyclopedias in early-modern Europe, China, & the Muslim world. A chronicle of the development of the European encyclopedia shows that the thematic style of the arrangement of knowledge developed prior to the dictionary, or alphabetical, style of arrangement. This diffusion of information was accomplished largely through entrepreneurial publishers responding to public demand. This commercialization of knowledge is an aspect of the commercialization of European society & culture generally. While the encyclopedic tradition in the Arab world encountered considerable religious opposition, Chinese encyclopedias were officially sanctioned, & organized to prepare candidates for the qualifying examinations for the imperial bureaucracy. The European encyclopedia & European cognitive growth were linked to productive development, while Chinese cognitive growth as embodied in the encyclopedia was linked to coercion. 54 References. H. von Rautenfeld