Description
Book SynopsisWhat is the history of knowledge? This engaging and accessible introduction explains what is distinctive about the new field of the history of knowledge (or, as some scholars say, knowledges in the plural ) and how it differs from the history of science, intellectual history, the sociology of knowledge or from cultural history.
Trade Review"It is rare for a tour d'horizon also to be a tour de force, but this compact introduction to the new field of the history of knowledge qualifies on both counts. In less than two hundred pages, Burke maps out a new Republic of Letters, far more inclusive than the old one. Burke's vast learning is lightly worn, and the reader is rewarded with glittering aperçus and striking comparisons on almost every page."
Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
"What counts as ‘knowledge’ and how can it be said to have a ‘history’? Peter Burke, the world’s foremost authority in the field, provides an eminently lucid guide to the momentous shifts that have been taking place in a gamut of intellectual disciplines. Intellectual history will never be the same again."
Geoffrey Lloyd, Needham Research Institute
Table of Contents1: Knowledges and their Histories
2: Concepts
3: Processes
4: Problems and Prospects
Timeline
Further Reading
Index
