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Summary
»General knowledge« is a social construction. All its aspects,
ranging from the need for it, to its content and its forms of organisation,
are invented. But who are the protagonists in the process of transfering
knowledge, education and information and what is their role in society?
This volume discusses the issue »general knowledge« using
the example of an apparently stable and supposedly consistent form of
knowledge: encyclopedias. Questions like how these medias of cultural
transfer change through time, how they deal with the dilemma of reproducing
stable and at the same time current knowledge are treated through a wide
range of examples, including non-European and non-modern texts. Encyclopedias
contribute to the popularisation of values and ideas in everyday life,
and research on encyclopedias can reveal notions about social and political
order. The articles are designed to be interdisciplinary and comparative
on a global scale. They examine publishing dynasties, enquire about the
influence of civil societies and deal with the role of political rulers
in efforts to »educate« societies. The interests of nation
states in the production of encyclopedias in India and Australia are debated
along with ideas dating back to the ancient world on how knowledge should
be organised. Mechanisms of censorship in 18th century France and ways
of collecting and organising knowledge in democratic and totalitarian
systems of modern times are considered just like the question, through
which deontological principles the search for knowledge is regulated.
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