Společnost a vědění II. - Od Encyklopedie k Wikipedii – Burke Peter (2013)

In this second volume of his comprehensive reflection on the relationship between society and knowledge, Peter Burke, emeritus professor of cultural history at the University of Cambridge, continues his overview of the development of knowledge and educational practices, institutions and trends “from Gutenberg to Google.” The dividing line between the two volumes is 1750 and the Enlightenment Encyclopédie. This volume examines an era marked by the strengthening of central governments and the rise of modern totalitarianism, the expansion of observational and recording technologies, the development of continental and intercontinental transport, the growing dominance of the natural sciences and the emergence of vast collective projects. These developments profoundly affected the sphere of knowledge, raising long-standing historical tendencies to a new qualitative level that brought progress, but also conflict between opposing forces and losses of knowledge. Burke discusses, among other contrasts, specialization and democratization, nationalism and internationalism, property rights and general accessibility, and useful knowledge and pure learning. He also explores the relationship between centre and periphery, whether the centre is occupied by academia, the natural sciences, modern metropolises or Western Europe.