How to Open Pandora’s Box: A Tractable Notion of the History of Knowledge

Rens Bod

doi:10.5334/jhk.28

Abstract

How to Open Pandora’s Box: A Tractable Notion of the History of Knowledge

Highlights

At first sight, the concept “history of knowledge” may seem too unwieldy to be covered by any definition
While the oldest extant patterns are probably the dash patterns on mammoth tusks that are believed to reflect the periodic phases of the moon, the first written texts that describe patterns are found in the Babylonian Empire.[15]
We need to look beyond a single continent if we want to understand how knowledge develops in different regions and centers around the world. By treating these centers as being on a par with each other we may arrive at what I will call a polycentric view of the history of knowledge.[23]

Summary

Introduction

The concept “history of knowledge” may seem too unwieldy to be covered by any definition. During the last few years, a new, recognizable subfield has emerged: the history of humanities, which aims at studying the integrated history of all humanistic disciplines.[12] This field was launched in 2008 with the annual conference series The Making of the Humanities, which resulted in a series of open access volumes as well as in monographs like A New History of the Humanities.[13] In addition, the journal History of Humanities was founded in 2015, and several academic programs in the field were set up While these activities have been important for emancipating the history of humanities as a field, they had little to say about how it could be united with the history of science as a field. My examples are necessarily patchy, and I refer to Bod for a more systematic treatment.[14]

The Awareness of Patterns

From Patterns to Principles and Back

Polycentric Perspectives

An Alternative Chronology from a Global Perspective