ISBN9780745669830 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
0745669832 (hardcover : alkaline paper)
9780745669847 (paperback : alkaline paper)
0745669840 (paperback : alkaline paper)
Note (Content)This introduction explains what is distinctive about the new field of the history of knowledge and how it differs from the history of other fields. Peter Burke draws upon examples of this new kind of history from different periods and from the history of India, East Asia and the Islamic world as well as from Europe and the Americas. He discusses some of the main concepts used by scholars working in the field, among them order of knowledge, situated knowledge and knowledge society . This book tells the story of the transformation of relatively raw information into knowledge via processes of classification, verification and so on, the dissemination of this knowledge and finally its employment for different purposes, by governments, corporations or private individuals. A concluding chapter identifies central problems in the history of knowledge, from triumphalism to relativism, together with attempts to solve them.
Note (Bibliography)Includes bibliographical references and index.