What is the History of Knowledge? : What is History? - Peter Burke

What is the History of Knowledge?

By: Peter Burke

Paperback | 4 December 2015

At a Glance

Paperback


Limited Stock Available

RRP $32.95

$30.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.56 with

 or 
In Stock and Aims to ship in 1-2 business days

When will this arrive by?

What 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.

Leading cultural historian, Peter Burke, draws upon examples of this new kind of history from different periods and from the history of India, East Asia and the Islamic world as well as from Europe and the Americas. He discusses some of the main concepts used by scholars working in the field, among them ‘order of knowledge’, ‘situated knowledge’ and ‘knowledge society’. This book tells the story of the transformation of relatively raw ‘information’ into knowledge via processes of classification, verification and so on, the dissemination of this knowledge and finally its employment for different purposes, by governments, corporations or private individuals. A concluding chapter identifies central problems in the history of knowledge, from triumphalism to relativism, together with attempts to solve them.

The only book of its kind yet to be published, What is the History of Knowledge? will be essential reading for all students of history and the humanities in general, as well as the interested general reader.

About the Author

PETER BURKE is Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the University of Cambridge.
Industry Reviews

"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

More in Sociology & Anthropology

Gutsy Girls : Love, Poetry and Sisterhood - Josie McSkimming
A Second Act : What Nearly Dying Teaches Us About Really Living - Matt Morgan
Sociologic : 2nd Edition - Analysing Everyday Life and Culture - James Arvanitakis
Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics : 6th Edition - Andy Field
Thematic Analysis : A Practical Guide to Understanding and Doing - Virginia Braun
The Way We Are : Lessons from a lifetime of listening - Hugh Mackay
First Knowledges Health : Spirit, Country and Culture - Shawana Andrews
Homo Deus : A Brief History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Sand Talk : How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World - Tyson Yunkaporta
Invisible Boys - Holden Sheppard

RRP $22.99

$21.90

The Dawn of Everything : A New History of Humanity - David Graeber