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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Epistemology, theory of knowledge
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From the Tree to the Labyrinth - Historical Studies on the Sign and Interpretation (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,751
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From the Tree to the Labyrinth - Historical Studies on the Sign and Interpretation (Hardcover)
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The way we create and organize knowledge is the theme of From the
Tree to the Labyrinth, a major achievement by one of the world's
foremost thinkers on language and interpretation. Umberto Eco
begins by arguing that our familiar system of classification by
genus and species derives from the Neo-Platonist idea of a "tree of
knowledge." He then moves to the idea of the dictionary,
which--like a tree whose trunk anchors a great hierarchy of
branching categories--orders knowledge into a matrix of
definitions. In Eco's view, though, the dictionary is too rigid: it
turns knowledge into a closed system. A more flexible
organizational scheme is the encyclopedia, which --instead of
resembling a tree with finite branches--offers a labyrinth of
never-ending pathways. Presenting knowledge as a network of
interlinked relationships, the encyclopedia sacrifices humankind's
dream of possessing absolute knowledge, but in compensation we gain
the freedom to pursue an infinity of new connections and meanings.
Moving effortlessly from analyses of Aristotle and James Joyce to
the philosophical difficulties of telling dogs from cats, Eco
demonstrates time and again his inimitable ability to bridge
ancient, medieval, and modern modes of thought. From the Tree to
the Labyrinth is a brilliant illustration of Eco's longstanding
argument that problems of interpretation can be solved only in
historical context.
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