A Social History of Knowledge, Volume 1: From Gutenberg to Diderot

A Social History of Knowledge #1

by Peter Burke

In this book Peter Burke adopts a socio-cultural approach to examine the changes in the organization of knowledge in Europe from the invention of printing to the publication of the French Encyclopedie. The book opens with an assessment of different sociologies of knowledge from Mannheim to Foucault and beyond, and goes on to discuss intellectuals as a social group and the social institutions (especially universities and academies) which encouraged or discouraged intellectual innovation. Then, in a series of separate chapters, Burke explores the geography, anthropology, politics and economics of knowledge, focusing on the role of cities, academies, states and markets in the process of gathering, classifying, spreading and sometimes concealing information. The final chapters deal with knowledge from the point of view of the individual reader, listener, viewer or consumer, including the problem of the reliability of knowledge discussed so vigorously in the seventeenth century. One of the most original features of this book is its discussion of knowledges in the plural. It centres on printed knowledge, especially academic knowledge, but it treats the history of the knowledge 'explosion' which followed the invention of printing and the discovery of the world beyond Europe as a process of exchange or negotiation between different knowledges, such as male and female, theoretical and practical, high-status and low-status, and European and non-European. Although written primarily as a contribution to social or socio-cultural history, this book will also be of interest to historians of science, sociologists, anthropologists, geographers and others in another age of information explosion.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Sociology, Reference, Cultural Studies, Education

268 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Peter Burke is a British historian and professor. He was educated by the Jesuits and at St John's College, Oxford, and was a doctoral candidate at St Antony's College. From 1962 to 1979, he was part of the School of European Studies at Sussex University, before moving to the University of Cambridge, where he holds the title of Professor Emeritus of Cultural History and Fellow of Emmanuel College. Burke is celebrated as a historian not only of the early modern era, but one who emphasizes the relevance of social and cultural history to modern issues. He is married to Brazilian historian Maria Lúcia Garcia Pallares-Burke.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A general history of how knowledge was established, classified, controlled, sold, acquired, and distributed from the Middle Ages to the end of the 17th century, with numerous references to other works. Discusses the creation of libraries, journals, museums, newspapers, systems of organizing education and compiled knowledge, mapping, biographies, the introduction of reference works, alphabetizing, and much more.

[Cioran · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a statement of the importance of knowledge to European culture that this book in many ways reads like a brief history of Europe. Which highlights how culturally bound knowledge as a phenomenon is.

Yet at the same time there is no denying the geographical and climatic contexts of culture. The origins of the "clerisy" a group in society whose task it is to interpret life and the universe for everyone in exchange for food and other necessities lies in the international European students travelling from university to university, bridging the gap between cultures by the Latin language and the organized Christian Church, and bridging the gap between geographies by roads in the Roman style and Europe as one great peninsula which allows so many port cities to emerge.

The need and desire for knowledge is universal, but for a whole continent to bet their whole future on knowledge, many factors and deep unchanging structures must be in place. But also people ready to grab hold of those opportunities.

This book is a synthesis of countless secondary sources of a more specific nature. In some ways Burke is "magisterial" in this synthesis, in others one gets the sense of a heated British Parliament meeting with everyone talking at the same time so that one cannot really hear what is going on, but perhaps in some ways that is indicative of the nature of knowledge itself: amorphous; human.

This book is about knowledge of knowledge.

Needless to say, the story Burke is telling is not complete without the second volume. The time period in the second book being where European respect for global knowledge culture heritage ended and hubris of European supremacy based on industrial capacity started.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts in here which I have been wowing my parents with, lucky things! For instance 16th century Venice saw the first publication of books in a series, although the printer (more decoratively) called them 'a necklace'. Elsevier followed up with the first series of books with an academic series editor in the mid 17th century. 'Johannes de Laet, a scholar who was also a director of the West India Company, was the editor in charge of a series of compendia of information about the organisation and resources of different states of the world. Some he complied himself...others he farmed out'. We really are working at the cutting edge some 350 years later...

[حسين كاظم · Rating 1 out of 5]

لا أعلم كيف حصل الكتاب على متوسط تقييمات 3.93/5 على تطبيق قودريدز! الكتاب سيء جدا؛ العناوين كثيرا ما تختلف عن المحتويات المندرجة تحتها، والمحتويات نفسها لا يوجد أي تماسك فيها، ثمة تنقل جغرافي ومعرفي غير مفهوم بين المحتويات، الأمر الذي جعل قراءة هذا الكتاب تجربة سيئة جدا!

أُخذ الكتاب عن سلسلة من المحاضرات للمؤلف. ولكني أسأل نفسي: ألم يكن بإمكانه أن يراجع الكتاب ليجعله أكثر تماسكا واتساقا ليتم طبعه ككتاب؟

سيء.. سيء جدا!

[Ángel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aunque me haya llevado más de la cuenta finalizarlo, es un libro muy interesante y verdaderamente útil, no solo por la propia finalidad del libro, sino también para descubrir autores de diversas especialidades de la Edad Moderna.

[Mehmet Tahta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dili çok ağır bir eser. Mükemmel bilgiler var içerisinde ama gerçekten zor okunuyor.

[Pere Roca]

Me l'hauria de tornar a llegir.

[Eliška Lorenzová · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kéž bych tuto knížku četla v maturitním ročníku. Nebo alespoň v prváku na výšce.

[Diego Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bastante pesado pero repleto de información interesante, obligatorio para historiadores enfocados en historia social

[Aimée · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read books starting with the TOC and the index and if those sound interesting I proceed to the contents. In this case, Burke introduces the reader to different kinds of knowledge. Although a bit pretentious in writing style, his views are frequently balanced and witty. I especially enjoyed the chapters on locating and classifying knowledge.

Overall, I am glad to read this book. I found it a tough go in parts but I learned many things. I will look to read other books by this author as he challenges my thinking and I like that. I recommend it for people who like books that make them thinks.

[Paige]

http://thebrowser.com/interviews/ann-...

[Mills College Library]

306.4209 B9595 2000