Encyclopedism is an outlook that aims to include a wide range of knowledge in a single work. The term covers both encyclopedias themselves and related genres in which comprehensiveness is a notable feature. The word encyclopedia is a Latinization of the Greek enkýklios paideía, which means all-around education."encyclopedia," Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013. The encyclopedia is "one of the few generalizing influences in a world of overspecialization. It serves to recall that knowledge has unity," according to Louis Shores, editor of Collier's Encyclopedia. It should not be "a miscellany, but a concentration, a clarification, and a synthesis", according to British writer H. G. Wells.H. G. Wells, World Brain.
Besides comprehensiveness, encyclopedic writing is distinguished by its lack of a specific audience or practical application. The author explains facts concisely for the benefit of a reader who will then use the information in a way that the writer does not try to anticipate. Early examples of encyclopedic writing include discussions of agriculture and craft by Roman writers such as Pliny the Elder and Varro – discussions presumably not intended as practical advice to farmers or craftsmen.Marco Formisano, "Late Latin Encyclopedism: toward a new paradigm for practical knowledge," in Jason König and Gregg Wolf (eds.), Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 197–218: "Roman encyclopaedism and practical knowledge", pp. 199-204. .
A great deal of classical learning was lost during the Dark Ages. This enhanced the status of encyclopedic works which survived, including those of Aristotle and Pliny. With the development of printing in the 15th century, the range of knowledge available to readers expanded greatly. Encyclopedic writing became both a practical necessity and a clearly distinguished genre. Renaissance encyclopedists were keenly aware of how much classical learning had been lost. They hoped to recover and record knowledge and were anxious to prevent further loss.Blair, Ann, "Revisiting Renaissance Encyclopedism," Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 381-382. .
In their modern form, encyclopedias consist of alphabetized articles written by teams of specialists. This format was developed in the 18th century by expanding the technical dictionary to include non-technical topics. The Encyclopédie (1751–1772), edited by Diderot and D'Alembert, was a model for many later works. Like Renaissance encyclopedists, Diderot worried about the possible destruction of civilization and selected knowledge he hoped would survive."Encyclopedists", Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Etymology
The word "encyclopedia" is a Latinization of the Greek enkýklios paideía. The Greek phrase refers to the education that a well-round student should receive. Latin writer Quintilian uses it to refer to the subjects a student of oratory should be familiar with before beginning an apprenticeship.Quintilian, The Orator's Education, 1.10.1: ut efficiatur orbis ille doctrinae, quem Graeci ἐγκύκλιον παιδείαν vocant. It translates literally as "in (en) the circle (kýklios) of knowledge (paideía)." The earliest citation for "encyclopedia" given in Oxford English Dictionary refers to the Greek curriculum and is dated 1531."Encyclopedia", Oxford English Dictionary, From The Book of the Governor by Thomas Elyot (i. xiii): "The circle of doctrine is in one worde of greke Encyclopedia."
The use of the term to refer to a genre of literature was prompted by a line that Pliny used in the preface of Natural History: "My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the Encyclopædia [tē̂s enkyklíou paideías], which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits."Pliny the Elder, Natural History, preface 14: ante omnia attingenda quae graeci τῆς ἐγκυκλίου παιδείας vocant. For the English translation, see here. For the Latin/Greek original, see here. Pliny writes the relevant phrase using Greek letters. Latin printers of incunabula lacked the typeface to render it. Some printers substituted encyclopædia or another Latin phrase. Others just left a blank space.A Venice incunabulum printed in 1469 has a blank space in the middle of second page where this phrase is supposed to be. This led to the misunderstanding that Pliny had called his work an encyclopedia.Jason König and Gregg Wolf, "Introduction", to Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1
In the Renaissance, writers who wanted their work compared to that of Pliny used the word. In 1517, Bavarian Johannes Aventinus wrote Encyclopedia orbisqve doctrinarum, a Latin reference work.Aventinus, Johannes, Encyclopedia orbisqve doctrinarum : hoc est omniu[m] artiu[m]m, scientiaru[m], ipsius philosophiae index ac divisio scriptores earundem rerum ... ; ex Platone Aristotele, Auguste : Miller, 1517. (WorldCat entry) Ringelberg's Cyclopedia was published in 1541 and Paul Scalich's Encyclopedia in 1559.Ringelberg, Joachim Fortius, Lucubrationes, vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia, 1541.Scalich, Paul, Pauli Scalichii Encyclopaediae, sen Orbis disciplinarum epistemon (Paul Scalich's Encyclopaedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines), Basel, 1559. Both of these reference works were written in Latin.Markey, Morris, "The Encyclopedists", The Atlantic, Feb. 1868. The French Encyclopédistes popularized the word in the 18th century.
The Oxford English Dictionary'''s first citation of "encyclopedism" is dated 1833. The context is a book on Diderot.1833 Carlyle, Diderot, Misc. V. 45 "This exaggerated laudation of Encyclopedism."
History
Aristotle The Greek writer and teacher Aristotle (384–322 BC) had much to say on a broad range of subjects, including biology, anatomy, psychology, physics, meteorology, zoology, poetics, rhetoric, logic, epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and political thought. He was among the first writers to describe how to classify material by subject, the first step in writing an encyclopedia. Aristotle wrote to help his students follow his teaching, so his corpus did not much resemble an encyclopedia during his lifetime. Long after his death, commentators filled in the gaps, reordered his works, and put his writing in a systematic form. Catalogs of his work were produced by Andronicus in the first century and by Ptolemy in the second century. As Aristotle's corpus was one of the few encyclopedic works to survive the Middle Ages, it became a widely used reference work in late medieval and Renaissance times.Jason König and Gregg Wolf, "Encyclopaedism in the Roman Empire," Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 27–28. .
Alexandria Dorotheus (mid first century AD) and Pamphilus (late first century AD) both wrote enormous lexicons. Neither work has survived, but their lengths suggest that they were considerably more than just dictionaries. Pamphilus's work was 95 books long and was a sequel to a lexicon of four books by Zopyrion. This passage from the Souda suggests that it was made up of alphabetized entries:Hatzimichali, Myrto, "Encyclopedism in the Alexandrian Library," Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 197–218. .
Hesychius (fifth century) credits Diogenianus as a source,Barnes, Jonathan, Mantissa (2015), p. 282. "Plainly, Diogenianus was an important source for Hesychius." who in turn used Pamphilus.Francesca Schironi, From Alexandria to Babylon: Near Eastern Languages and Hellenistic Erudition in the Oxyrhynchus Glossary (P.Oxy. 1802 + 4812) (2009), p. 49. "From this scholium it become clear that Diogenianus did not excerpt directly from Pamphilus, but rather from Vestinus. So we have the chain Pamphilus-Vestinus-Diogenianus-Hesychius." This is the only form in which any of Pamphilus's work may have survived.
Rome A Roman who wanted to learn about a certain subject would send a slave to a private library with orders to copy relevant passages from whatever books were available. As they were less likely to withdraw or buy a book, readers were little concerned with the scope of a given work. So the emergence of encyclopedic writing cannot be explained by practical need. Instead, it may have been inspired by Cato's ideal of the vir bonus, the informed citizen able to participate in the life of the Republic.Formisano, p. 200.
Three Roman works are commonly identified as encyclopedic: The collected works of Varro (116–27 BC), Pliny the Elder's (c. 77–79 AD) Natural History, and On the Arts by Cornelius Celsus (c. 25 BC – c. 50 AD). These three were grouped together as a genre, not by the Romans themselves, but by later writers in search of antique precedent.Jason König and Gregg Wolf, "Encyclopaedism in the Roman Empire," Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 23–63. .
In Cicero's time, the study of literature was still controversial. In Pro Archia, Cicero explains that he studied literature to improve his rhetorical skills and because it provides a source of elevating moral examples. Varro's emphasis on the city's history and culture suggests patriotic motives. Pliny emphasized utilitarian motives and public service. He criticized Livy for writing history simply for his own pleasure.Beagon, Mary, "Labores pro bono publico the burdensome mission of Pliny's Natural History," Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 92. .
Varro Varro's Antiquities consisted of 41 books on Roman history. His Disciplines was nine books on liberal arts. Varro also wrote 25 books on Latin and 15 on law. Only fragments of Varro's work survive. According to Cicero, Varro's comprehensive work allowed the Romans to feel at home in their own city.Cicero, Academica Posteriora 1.9
Cornelius Celsus
Celsus wrote prolifically on many subjects. "Cornelius Celsus, a man of modest intellect, could write not only about all these arts but also left behind accounts of military science, agriculture, and medicine: indeed, he deserves, on the basis on this design alone, to be thought to have known all things," according to Quintilian.Quintilian, The Orator's Education, 12.11.23-4 Only the medical section of his massive On the Arts has survived. This is eight books long. Celsus followed the structure of the medical writers that had gone before him. He summarized their views in a workmanlike manner. He seldom presented insights of his own. He struggled to manage the overwhelming quantity of relevant source material.Jason König and Gregg Wolf, "Encyclopaedism in the Roman Empire, " Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 39-40. . His medical books were rediscovered in 1426-1427 at libraries in the Vatican and in Florence and published in 1478. He is our main source concerning Roman medical practices."The Oldest Western Medical Document after the Hippocratic Writings, and How it Survived the Middle Ages", Jeremy Norman's History of Information.
Pliny the Elder