The Tree of Knowledge
Item
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Title
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The Tree of Knowledge
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Creator/author/artist of the original item
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Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert
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Date
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1780
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Description
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The Tree of Knowledge is a diagram of the entire system of knowledge mapped out by Diderot and d’Alembert in the Encyclopédie in the 18th century. This map was intended to visualize all of the world’s knowledge, as well as its sources and the branches that extend from them. The central trunk is labeled as “understanding” and other branches of “memory”, “reason,” and “imagination” act as the three main offshoots. Because humans cannot follow more than one mental route simultaneously, Diderot reflects this discreetness by using imagery of a tree; just as in the mind, one cannot follow more than one tree branch at a time (Lord). From the central trunk, one can see all of the potential routes that one can embark on.
The placement of the arts in relation to the rest of the tree is an interest aspect worth investigating further. The arts is the only subsection which sits emerging from the “imagination” source. This is reflective of how people of this time thought of the arts as not relating to reason or empirical thought. At least, that is how Voltaire wanted people to perceive art. In his novel, Candide, Voltaire criticizes those who critique art (Candide, 90). When discussing a play, Candide explains that he quite liked an actress in the show, while the critics who he sat next to thought she was terrible. Candide strongly believes in enjoying art for art’s sake, and not trying to rationalize artistic decisions with reason or memory. Candide emphasizes the importance of not overanalyzing what is beautiful to the point of nonsense.
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Place
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France
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Source Citation
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Lord, Matthew. “The Tree of Knowledge,” May 14, 2109. https://www.mattlord.net/the-tree-of-knowledge/.
Voltaire. Candide. Translated by Daniel Gordon. Second Edition. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 1999.
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Rights / License
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Chrétien Frederic Guillaume Roth., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
