Aristotle's Contribution to Scholarly Communication PDF
Preview Aristotle's Contribution to Scholarly Communication
UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff TTeennnneesssseeee,, KKnnooxxvviillllee TTRRAACCEE:: TTeennnneesssseeee RReesseeaarrcchh aanndd CCrreeaattiivvee EExxcchhaannggee Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2008 AArriissttoottllee’’ss CCoonnttrriibbuuttiioonn ttoo SScchhoollaarrllyy CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn Stephen Edward Bales University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Communication Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Bales, Stephen Edward, "Aristotle’s Contribution to Scholarly Communication. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/475 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Stephen Edward Bales entitled "Aristotle’s Contribution to Scholarly Communication." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. J. Michael Pemberton, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Suzie Allard, Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon, Dwight Teeter Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Stephen Edward Bales entitled “Aristotle’s Contribution to Scholarly Communication.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication & Information. _______________________________________ J. Michael Pemberton, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance _______________________________________ Suzie Allard _______________________________________ Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon _______________________________________ Dwight Teeter _______________________________________ Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) ARISTOTLE’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Stephen Edward Bales December 2008 Copyright © 2008 by Stephen Edward Bales All rights reserved. i i Acknowledgements I thank those who helped me complete this study, first and foremost of which is my lovely and patient wife Mitzi (and mother of my two beautiful girls). This dissertation would also not have been possible without the help of my parents: Steve, Cheryl, Karen, and Fred. I thank my committee chair, Dr. Mike Pemberton, for introducing me to Aristotle and providing constant guidance. I would also like to thank my other committee members: Dr. Teeter for teaching me how to write history, Dr Thayer-Bacon for encouraging me to explore alternative perspectives, and Dr. Allard for talking me back from the precipice on more than one occasion with helpful words of advice. I thank my comrades-in-arms in the CCI doctoral program. I particularly thank Bernardo Motta, Dr. Alla Kushniryk, Dr. Charlie “Constance” Gee, and Yan Zhang. I am equally indebted to the many fine professors at the College of Communication and Information, not least of who is Dr. Peiling Wang, a great friend and intellectual role- model. I also thank Dr Ed Cortez, director of SIS, for his continued support of my doctoral studies. I thank the librarians, future librarians, and library paraprofessionals whom both inspired this work and helped make it possible, particularly Wanda Rosinski, Rick Bower, Jane Row, Allison Bolorizadeh, Rachel Kirk, and the “infoposse.” Finally, I thank those in the SIS, CCI, and CICS offices who put up with me over the last four years, particularly Gerri Littlejohn, Tanya Arnold, Linda Sherman, Cindy Lancaster, Diana Hall, Sherry McNair, Bobbie Suttles, and last but not least, Mary Bartolini. ii i Abstract This historical study examines the Aristotelian foundations of the Library and Museum of Alexandria for the purpose of (1) understanding how the Library and Museum differed from preceding ancient Near Eastern information institutions (i.e., “protolibraries”) and (2) how Aristotle’s methodologies for producing scientific knowledge were carried out in Alexandria. While protolibraries served as safeguards for maintaining a static cultural/political “stream of tradition” and created, organized, and maintained “library” documents to this end, the Library of Alexandria was a tool for theoretical knowledge creation. The Library materialized Aristotelian pre-scientific theory, specifically dialectic, and served the scholarly community of the Museum in its research. Following the Library, collections of materialized endoxa, or recorded esteemed opinions, became a necessary tool for use by scholarly communities. The Library established the post-Aristotelian paradigm under which academic libraries still operate. Although the Library of Alexandria represented a fundamental shift in the meaning and purpose of collections of recorded documents, a feminist critique of the post-Aristotelian library shows that the academic library, while used in knowledge creation, is rooted in a foundationalist philosophy that validates and maintains the status quo. iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction.......................................................................................................1 Research Questions.........................................................................................................5 Significance.....................................................................................................................6 Scope...............................................................................................................................8 Methodology...................................................................................................................8 Evidence........................................................................................................................10 Limitations....................................................................................................................14 Chapters in this Dissertation.........................................................................................14 Chapter 2: Near-Eastern Protolibraries.............................................................................18 Definition of Terms.......................................................................................................21 Mesopotamia: Cradle of Literacy and Organization.....................................................22 The Scribes: Jealous Guardians of Tradition............................................................27 The Nature of the Mesopotamian Collections..........................................................31 The Great Library of Assurbanipal: A “Modern” Library?......................................37 The Organization of the Mesopotamian Collections................................................40 The Pre-Alexandrian Egyptian Protolibraries...............................................................45 The Egyptian “Library:” the “House of Life”...........................................................48 The Egyptian Scribes................................................................................................50 The Organization of Egyptian Collections...............................................................51 The Mycenaean Protolibraries......................................................................................52 The Organization of the Mycenaean Collections......................................................55 An Abrupt and Final End..........................................................................................57 The Archaic and Hellenic Protolibraries.......................................................................58 The Nature of the Post-Mycenaean Greek collections.............................................60 Library Philosophy before Alexandria..........................................................................64 Chapter 3: The Birth of Alexandria and Its Scholarly Community..................................67 The Origins of the Library and Museum of Alexandria...............................................68 Alexander the Great..................................................................................................68 Ptolemy.....................................................................................................................71 Demetrius of Phalerum.............................................................................................78 The University of Alexandria...................................................................................83 Chapter 4: The Library of the Museum............................................................................90 The Basic Character of the Library...............................................................................90 The Library’s Organization...........................................................................................93 The Library’s Administration: The Librarians...........................................................100 The Decline of Scholarship in Alexandria and Eventual Destruction of the Library.104 The Foundations of the Library of Alexandria:..........................................................109 Politics or Intellect?....................................................................................................109 v The Library as Political/Cultural Tool....................................................................110 The Library as Intellectual Tool.............................................................................116 Implications.................................................................................................................127 Chapter 5: Alexandria and Aristotelian Science.............................................................130 Poetry and Philosophy................................................................................................133 Aristotle.......................................................................................................................140 Aristotle’s Early Life..............................................................................................142 Philosophical Pedigree............................................................................................144 Academy to Lyceum...............................................................................................147 Lyceum to Museum................................................................................................151 The Institutionalization of Aristotelian Science.........................................................154 Truth through Systematization................................................................................155 Scientific Demonstration........................................................................................157 The Archē................................................................................................................159 The Museum as the First University...........................................................................161 Chapter 6: The Alexandrian Library and Aristotelian Pre-Science................................167 Collection as Preliminary to Science..........................................................................169 Epagoge: Collecting Phainomena...........................................................................172 Epagoge at Alexandria............................................................................................175 Dialectic......................................................................................................................181 Dialectic Prior to Aristotle......................................................................................182 Aristotelian Dialectic..............................................................................................185 Expert Endoxa as Knowledge-Based Documents...................................................187 Philosophical Dialectic...........................................................................................189 Dialectic at Alexandria...........................................................................................191 Collecting a Library................................................................................................196 Classifying the Collection.......................................................................................200 Cataloging the Collection.......................................................................................203 The “Post-Aristotelian” Library..................................................................................206 Chapter 7: Re-assessing the Post-Aristotelian Library...................................................208 Philosophy as a Tool for Domination.........................................................................211 Philosophy and Class Structure..................................................................................213 Logic as a Tool for Exclusion.....................................................................................215 Aristotelian Pre-Science and Exclusion......................................................................219 The Academic Library as Conservative Force............................................................221 Enduring Consequences?............................................................................................222 Library 2.0...................................................................................................................225 Implications.................................................................................................................227 Chapter 8: Conclusion.....................................................................................................230 From Stream of Tradition to Knowledge Creation.....................................................231 The Historical Link between Aristotle and the Library..............................................234 The Post-Aristotelian Academic Library....................................................................235 Implications.................................................................................................................236 v i Intellectual History and Professionalization...........................................................237 Intellectual History and the Education of Information Professionals.....................239 Future Research..........................................................................................................242 Bibliography................................................................................................................. 246 Ancient and Medieval/Byzantine Sources..................................................................247 Secondary Sources......................................................................................................251 APPENDIX.....................................................................................................................266 The Debate over Dialectic..........................................................................................267 The Traditional View..................................................................................................267 The Received View.....................................................................................................269 “Superior” Dialectic....................................................................................................271 Dialectic as a Supplement to Epagoge........................................................................273 Summary.....................................................................................................................276 Vita..................................................................................................................................281 vi i
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