The ''Encyclopaedia Cursus Philosophici'' is an
encyclopedia
An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
of
Johann Heinrich Alsted
Johann Heinrich Alsted (March 1588 – November 9, 1638), "the true parent of all the Encyclopædias", s:Budget of Paradoxes/O. was a German-born Transylvanian Saxon Calvinist minister and academic, known for his varied interests: in Ramism and ...
(1588–1638).
Frontispiece to the ''Encyclopaedia'' of Johann Heinrich Alsted ( Herborn 1630)
Johann Heinrich Alsted published the ''Encyclopaedia'' in seven volumes in 1620
worldcat entry
/ref> in Herborn. It is often argued that this is the first work to bear the title "encyclopedia", though Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh
Joachim Sterck van Ringelbergh (Joachimus Fortius Ringelbergius) (Antwerp, c. 1499 – c. 1531) was a Flemish scholar, humanism, humanist, mathematician and astrologer.
His ''Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia'' (Basileae: Westhe ...
's ''Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia'' was published in 1538, and Paul Scalich published '' Encyclopediae seu orbis disciplinarum tam sacrarum quam profanarum epistemon'' in 1559.
Alsted was attempting with his ''Encyclopaedia'' to emulate the combination system of Ramon Llull
Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca.
He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...
as set out in Llull's 1308 '' Ars Magna'', and thus to formulate a system of universal knowledge and a Llullian method for systematising the sciences. The scheme includes categorisations such as:
* generic - specific;
* peripheral - central;
* internal - external;
* communal - individual;
* quantum ad locum - ad conditionem ad aetatem;
* preparatorius - elaboratorius.
Alsted's approach influenced, among others, the pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
Johann Amos Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...
and the Hungarian encyclopedist Apáczai Csere János (1625–1659). Alsted's vision was that with the right methodologies of teaching and application, any person could have access to a perfect knowledge of all sciences.
References
* Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann: ''Vorwort zum Reprint von J. H. Alsted, "Encyclopaedia" (1630)''. Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt 1989
Latin encyclopedias
German encyclopedias
1620 books
17th-century encyclopedias
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