A History of Knowledge - Charles Van Doren

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There are, alas, a few things missing, as this book only has a bit over 400 pages. But that does not really detract from the thesis of the book; it is certainly a worthy outline of human history, particularly approached through the lens of intellectual achievement and the advance of knowledge. From the ancients all over the world in the earliest civilisations, Van Doren largely traces the Western tradition of intellectual development, being ...
...Britannica. He has put together a worthy outline to knowledge, broad in scope and with just enough detail to satisfy the hunger and whet the appetite simultaneously.

`The voluminous literature dealing with the idea of human progress is decidedly a mixed bag. While some of these writings are impressive and even inspiring, many of them are superficial, perhaps even ridiculous, in their reiteration (especially during the nineteenth century) ... more

Charles Van Doren undertook an ambitious project in this book, which according to its cover blurb purports to be 'a compendium of everything that humankind has thought, invented, created, considered, and perfected from the beginning of civilisation into the twenty-first century.'

There are, alas, a few things missing, as this book only has a bit over 400 pages. But that does not really detract from the thesis of the book; it is certainly a worthy outline of human history, particularly approached through the lens of intellectual achievement and the advance of knowledge. From the ancients all over the world in the earliest civilisations, Van Doren largely traces the Western tradition of intellectual development, being his own intellectual lineage. More detail into other strands of intellectual history would be helpful.

Van Doren, as you may recall, is the Van Doren who got caught up in the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. Ironic that this fate should befall him, as his learning would obviously put to shame the current crop of would-be millionaires so popular on the television today. But, I digress.

Van Doren spent the two decades before writing this book as an editor for Encyclopedia Britannica. He has put together a worthy outline to knowledge, broad in scope and with just enough detail to satisfy the hunger and whet the appetite simultaneously.

`The voluminous literature dealing with the idea of human progress is decidedly a mixed bag. While some of these writings are impressive and even inspiring, many of them are superficial, perhaps even ridiculous, in their reiteration (especially during the nineteenth century) of the comforting prospect that every day in every way we are growing better and better.'

Van Doren does believe in progress, but not in inevitable progress. He distinguishes between general knowledge and knowledge of particulars, and explores the inter-relationship of knowledge and happiness:

`The desire to know, when you realise you do not know, is universal and probably irresistible. It was the original temptation of mankind, and no man or woman, and especially no child, can overcome it for long. But it is a desire, as Shakespeare said, that grows by what it feeds on. It is impossible to slake the thirst for knowledge. And the more intelligent you are, the more this is so.'

Van Doren explores the advance of knowledge by time periods, then divided into general discussions with a specific centre. I give as an example the outline of topics in the chapter entitled ‘An Age of Revolutions’:

An Age of Revolutions
- The Industrial Revolution
- Human Machines and Mechanical Humans
- An Age of Reason and Revolution
- John Locke and the Revolution of 1688
- Property, Government, and Revolution
- Two Kinds of Revolution
- Thomas Jefferson and the Revolution of 1776
- The Declaration of Independence
- Property in Rights
- Robespierre, Napoleon, and the Revolution of 1789
- The Rise of Equality
- Mozart's Don Giovanni
- Goethe's Faust

Van Doren's own agenda and prejudice show through (a desire for the curbing of the rights of nation-states in favour of a one-world government, for instance -- without much detail about how that government would be constituted; after all, he is a realist who recognises that there's no point to such idle speculation in a history text), but he always returns to his charge of presenting the history of the whole through various parts.

Knowledge is traced through science, through philosophy, through politics, through literature – few intellectual endeavours are neglected. One comes to understand Van Doren’s particular likes and dislikes from the areas of emphasis, and this will be different for everyone who would undertake such a historical survey, so there is no assumption of complete objectivity here. Van Doren talks about certain kinds of knowledge – general knowledge, universal knowledge, certain knowledge; Van Doren defines and expands upon these categories throughout the text.

His final chapter, entitled `The Next Hundred Years' examines the possible developments and societal changes (which we are already beginning to see) due to computers, chaos science, increased space exploration, genetic engineering and genome mapping, and an ever-present companion in history, war. All of this is speculation, to be sure, because no one can chart the course of history accurately into the future, even knowing a great deal about the past. One thing is certain – Santayana’s statement about those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it certainly continues to be true. The pace of intellectual development, like technological development, is always increasing, with critical masses of knowledge in certain areas leading to ‘quantum revolutions’ in thinking at such a rapid pace it is hard for even the most specialised of experts to keep up with the progress.

This is a well-written exploration of world history written with clarity and style. It makes an excellent companion piece for almost any intellectual field.

 

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