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Figurative system of human knowledge

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Binary tree structure
The title page of the Encyclopédie, 1751.

The figurative system of human knowledge (French: Système figuré des connaissances humaines; sometimes known as the tree of Diderot and d'Alembert) is Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot's tree structure graph outlining human knowledge. It was produced for the Encyclopédie. According to Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the Encyclopédie's aim was "to change the way people think" and to allow people to inform themselves.[1]

Knowledge organization is part of the field of information science—the academic pursuit to discover, learn, record, and share knowledge.

This tree is a taxonomy of human knowledge inspired by Francis Bacon's The Advancement of Learning. The three main branches of knowledge in the tree are: "Memory"/History, "Reason"/Philosophy, and "Imagination"/Poetry.

Notable is the fact that theology is ordered under philosophy. The historian Robert Darnton argued that this categorization of religion as being subject to human reason, and not a source of knowledge in and of itself (revelation), was a significant factor in the controversy surrounding the work.[2] "Knowledge of God" is only a few nodes away from divination and black magic.

Content

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Classification chart with the original "figurative system of human knowledge" tree, in French

Below is a version of the Tree rendered in English as a bulleted outline.

"Detailed System of Human Knowledge" from the Encyclopédie.

  • Deviations of Nature.
  • Work and Uses of Precious Stones.
  • Work and Uses of Iron.
  • Work and Uses of Skin.
  • Work and Uses of Silk.
  • Spinning.
  • Milling.
  • Needlecraft.
  • Velvet.
  • Brocaded Fabrics, etc.
  • Work and Uses of Wool.
  • Cloth-Making.
  • Bonnet-Making, etc.
  • Working and Uses, etc.
  • Science of Man.
  • Reasonable.
  • Sensible.
  • Demonstration.
  • Art of Remembering.
  • Prenotion.
  • Emblem.
  • Supplement to Memory.
  • Characters.
  • General Science of Good and Evil, of duties in general, of Virtue, of the necessity of being Virtuous, etc.
  • Metaphysics of Bodies or, General Physics, of Extent, of Impenetrability, of Movement, of Word, etc.
  • Mathematics.
  • Elementary (Military Architecture, Tactics).
  • Transcendental (Theory of Courses).
  • Mixed.
  • Physicomathematics.
  • Particular Physics.
  • Hygiene.
  • Hygiene, properly said.
  • Cosmetics (Orthopedics).
  • Athletics (Gymnastics).
  • Pathology.
  • Semiotics.
  • Treatment.
  • Judiciary Astrology.
  • Physical Astrology.
  • Imagination.
  • Sacred, Profane.
  • Narrative.
  • Parable

(Note: This next branch seems to belong to both the narrative and dramatic tree, as indicated by the line drawn connecting the two.)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hunt, Lynn (2007), The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures: A Concise History: Volume II: Since 1340 (2nd ed.), Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, p. 611, ISBN 0-312-43937-7
  2. ^ Robert Darnton, "Philosophers Trim the Tree of Knowledge: The Epistemological Strategy of the Encyclopedie," The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1984), 191-213.

Further reading

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  • Robert Darnton, "Epistemological angst: From encyclopedism to advertising," in Tore Frängsmyr, ed., The structure of knowledge: classifications of science and learning since the Renaissance (Berkeley, CA: Office for the History of Science and Technology, University of California, Berkeley, 2001).
  • Adams, David (2006) 'The Système figuré des Connaissances humaines and the structure of Knowledge in the Encyclopédie', in Ordering the World, ed. Diana Donald and Frank O'Gorman, London: Macmillan, p. 190-215.
  • Preliminary discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, translated by Richard N. Schwab, 1995. ISBN 0-226-13476-8
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