From Enkyklios Paideia to Wikipedia: Genealogies of Knowledge in French Encyclopedism Público
Rottman, Eric Michael (2016)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation presents a genealogical approach to the understanding and conceptualization of encyclopedic knowledge in the French tradition. Critical analysis of key encyclopedic moments in the works of Vincent de Beauvais, Charles Sorel, and Denis Diderot reveals a penchant to retool knowledge in order that it might be managed and controlled. Encyclopedias however did not initially concern themselves with regulating knowledge, but rather entailed formative dimensions used for the cultivation of self-knowledge. In the Speculum Maius, this paradigm gave way to new systems of learning that reoriented encyclopedism away from the contemplative, towards imposed systems of understanding. The Science Universelle and Encyclopédie continued this effort through the development of systematic presentations of knowledge characterized by dialogue with contemporary research and theory. The propensity to refashion encyclopedic knowledge continues to inform epistemological and structural evolution in encyclopedias -- most distinctly, through platforms based online such as Wikipedia, whose operating paradigm privileges efficiency and being up-to-date over and above the framing of its contents. Not only does Wikipedia put into question humanity's relationship with digitally mediated encyclopedic knowledge, it redefines it. Such concerns are of fundamental significance for contemporary society captivated by questions of information systemization and use. This interdisciplinary study, which is at the crossroads of French Literature, philosophy, history, critical theory, and the digital humanities, enabling it to offer a more nuanced, longitudinal approach to the study of encyclopedism.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Two Handbooks of Life
Introduction 12
Pliny's Stoic Commonplace 17
Understanding Nature in the Naturalis 22
The Fall and Divine Illumination in the Speculum Maius 33
Wisdom, Virtue, and Necessity 43
Conclusion 52
Chapter 2: "Universal" Learning
Introduction 55
Overtaking Aristotle 63
Method 68
Experimental Demonstration 74
Theory and Practice 84
Conclusion 87
Chapter 3: Enlightening Knowledge
Introduction 89
Knowledge and Order 106
Renvois 108
The Planches 121
Conclusion 127
Chapter 4: Wikipedia and the Digital Age
Introduction 132
The Rules of Collaboration 134
Bots, Speed, and Hyperlinks 141
Secondary Appropriation 148
Conclusion 150
Conclusion 152
Bibliography 156
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