Philosophical Models of the Universal Repository of Knowledge as a Prehistory of Big Data: the Third World of K. Popper, Encyclopedia of U. Eco, The Library of Babel of J.L. Borges.

Abstract

The phenomenon of big data is of increasing interest not only for technical and economic disciplines, but also for the humanities. It arose and became the subject of reflection relatively recently, but long before it, in the history of philosophy, one can find models and images of a universal information repository that are close in idea, although not quite identical to the concept of big data. The comparison of the phenomenon of big data with the philosophical projects of the universal repository of knowledge is also interesting in connection with the current interdisciplinary approach to knowledge. In this article, the author proposes to consider as such projects the idea of the “third world” by Karl Popper, the concept of “Encyclopedia” by Umberto Eco and the image of the Babylonian Library by Jorge Luis Borges.