Structuring the history of knowledge in an age of transition: The Göttingen Geschichte between historia literaria and the rise of the disciplines

Abstract

This article traces the conceptual origins of the famous Göttingen History of the Arts and Sciences since their Renewal to the end of the eighteenth century, prepared by a company of learned men, published in 1796–1820 and overseen by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. In its overall structure and in many of its parts, it was the last representative of the tradition of historia literaria. This tradition came to an end around 1800 due to the accumulation and specialization of knowledge rather than because of a new philosophical conception of how to classify knowledge—although there were various proposals for such classifications, primarily in German territories.