Encyclopedia: We explain what an encyclopedia is, what its characteristics are and what it is used for. In addition, we tell you about its origin and the types that exist.
What is an encyclopedia?
Encyclopedias are a type of reference work, that is, a type of book or set of books that are consulted to obtain specific, precise and independent information on a given subject. An encyclopedia attempts to compile or compile the totality of human knowledge, organized alphabetically and described in an objective, impartial and universal manner, so that it can be consulted when specific information is needed.
Naturally, the totality of human knowledge does not fit into any book or set of books, not even in the many volumes that make up large encyclopedic projects, such as the famous Encyclopedia Britannica. However, encyclopedias make the attempt, organizing in a systematic and coherent manner the main topics and references for consultation, whether on a specific area of knowledge or on any type of subject. Keep getting all this Industrial Revolution information!
The name “encyclopedia” comes from the Greek words En kyklos (“within the circle”) and paideia (“education”), which in ancient Greece referred to the set of books and works that a child had to read during his formal education, in order to acquire the minimum necessary knowledge. With this meaning, the term encyclopaedia was created in Latin, translatable as “compendium of knowledge”, and which was later inherited by the Romance languages.
Encyclopedias are an important part of the information and educational resources available to any individual, that is, they are works that anyone can consult to learn about a topic or subject, and which, therefore, play a fundamental role in the preservation and circulation of knowledge.
With the development of computers, physical encyclopedias gave way to virtual encyclopedias, which were initially stored on media such as CD-ROMs. Today, these encyclopedias are websites, which allow users to consult information about a wide variety of topics instantly and easily.
Characteristics of an encyclopedia
In general, encyclopedias are characterized by the following:
- They are books or sets of books, which address human knowledge or a portion of it from an objective, impartial, methodical point of view and organized (usually) alphabetically.
- They can be general or specific (a specific area of knowledge, such as medicine).
- They do not contain argumentative information, opinions or any other expression of subjectivity or debatable point of view. Instead, they can be supported by tables, images, graphs and other types of visual support.
- They are updated from time to time, either to enlarge their content, correct errors or update the information.
What are encyclopedias for?
Encyclopedias have an informative purpose: they provide the reader with clear, correct, objective and specific information about what they are looking for within their pages. They are educational and quick reference books: no one reads an encyclopedia from beginning to end, but rather opens it and goes directly to the content that interests them. In this sense, they operate in the same way as dictionaries and glossaries.
On the other hand, encyclopedias play an interesting historical role: they reflect the state of knowledge and culture at a given time and age. If we consult an encyclopedia from the last century, for example, we can get an idea of the things that were considered certain, objective and demonstrable at that time; many of them will no longer be so for us. Take in all this Communication information!
Types of encyclopedia
Encyclopedias are usually of two types: general and thematic.
- General encyclopedias cover, to the extent possible, the totality of human knowledge, or at least its main aspects and those most frequently consulted by the general public. For example, school encyclopedias or multi-volume encyclopedias that were formerly purchased to keep at home. On the Internet, initiatives such as Wikipedia are also encyclopedias of this type.
- Thematic encyclopedias cover a specific area of human knowledge and are limited to it. Therefore, they are useful for studying certain specific areas of knowledge and can be more detailed and specific, given that they have less information to cover. For example, medical, animal or natural science encyclopedias.
Origin of the encyclopedia
Encyclopedias have very diverse antecedents in ancient cultures, given that the invention of writing allowed humans for the first time to preserve and organize knowledge for future generations. In fact, there are many compilations, indexes or summaries of various topics made in antiquity and the Middle Ages, as a way of bringing together literary works or writings that had something in common.
However, the first notion of a general and didactic encyclopedia arose in the 18th century, as part of the educational and informative work that the French Enlightenment considered important to combat ignorance and superstition inherited from the Christian Middle Ages. The pioneers in these matters were the so-called “encyclopedists”, such as the British Ephraim Chambers, creator of the Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences of 1728, one of the first encyclopedias in history.
However, the most important encyclopedic project was the Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, who brought together a select group of 140 thinkers of the time to design what they hoped would be the greatest popularization project in history, the Encyclopédie, or Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts. Writers such as Voltaire and Francis Bacon collaborated on this project, and the encyclopedia was inspired both by the tree of human knowledge proposed by Bacon and by René Descartes’ Discourse on Method.
To learn more about the history of encyclopedias, see here.
