Encyclopedism
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. 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.
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.
The vast majority 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.
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, 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.
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. It translates literally as "in the circle of knowledge." The earliest citation for "encyclopedia" given in Oxford English Dictionary refers to the Greek curriculum and is dated 1531.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 , which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits." 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. This led to the misunderstanding that Pliny had called his work an encyclopedia.
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. Ringelberg's Cyclopedia was published in 1541 and Paul Scalich's Encyclopedia in 1559. Both of these reference works were written in Latin. 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.
History
Aristotle
The Greek writer and teacher Aristotle 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.Alexandria
Dorotheus and Pamphilus 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:Hesychius credits Diogenianus as a source, who in turn used Pamphilus. 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.Three Roman works are commonly identified as encyclopedic: The collected works of Varro, Pliny the Elder's Natural History, and On the Arts by Cornelius Celsus. These three were grouped together as a genre, not by the Romans themselves, but by later writers in search of antique precedent.
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.
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.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. 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. 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.Pliny the Elder
If Varro made the Romans feel at home their own city, Pliny tried to do the same for the natural world and for the Empire. Pliny's approach was very different than that of Celsus. He was a man ahead of his time. Not content to build on what went before, he reorganized the world of knowledge to fit his encyclopedic vision. In a Latin preface, the writer customarily listed the models he hoped to surpass. Pliny found no model in previous writing. Instead, he emphasized that his work was novicium, a word suitable for describing a major discovery. Although Pliny was widely read, no later Roman writer followed his structure or claimed him as a model. Niccolò Leoniceno published an essay in 1492 listing Pliny's many scientific errors.In the introduction of Natural History, Pliny writes:
... in Thirty-six Books I have comprised 20,000 Things that are worthy of Consideration, and these I have collected out of about 2000 Volumes that I have diligently read, and those written by one hundred several excellent Authors; besides a Multitude of other Matters, which either were unknown to our former Writers, or Experience has lately ascertained.
With an entire book dedicated to listing sources, Natural History is 37 books long. Eschewing established disciplines and categories, Pliny begins with a general description of the world. Book 2 covers astronomy, meteorology, and the elements. Books 3–6 cover geography. Humanity is covered in Book 7, animals in Books 8–11, trees in 12–17, agriculture in 18–19, medicine in 20–32, metals in 33–34, and craft and art in 35–37.
Following Aristotle, Pliny counts four elements: fire, earth, air and water. There are seven planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. The earth is a "perfect globe," suspended in the middle of space, that rotates with incredible swiftness once every 24 hours. As a good Stoic, Pliny dismisses astrology: "it is ridiculous to suppose, that the great head of all things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs." He considers the possibility of other worlds only to dismiss such speculation as "madness." The idea of space travel is "perfect madness."
Pliny had opinions on a wide variety of subjects often interjected them. He tells us which uses of plants, animals, and stone are proper, and which ones are improper. Was the Roman Empire benefiting or corrupting the classical world? Pliny returns to this theme repeatedly. He analogizes Rome's civilizing mission to the way poisonous plants of all nation were tamed into medicines. Pliny also wants us to know that he is a heroic explorer, a genius responsible for a highly original and most remarkable work. The extensive reading and note taking of his slave secretaries is rarely mentioned.
At the very end of the work, Pliny writes, "Hail Nature, parent of all things, and in recognition of the fact that I alone have praised you in all your manifestations, look favorably upon me." Here Pliny points to comprehensiveness as his project's outstanding asset. Nature awarded Pliny a heroic death that gave him "a kind of eternal life," according to his nephew. The great encyclopedist was commander of the Naples fleet and died trying to assist the local inhabitants during the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.