The Emergence of a Global Knowledge Network

Abstract

Today we live in a global network of knowledge–as shown recently by the worldwide interactive research on Covid-19. Nevertheless, knowledge is distributed differently around the world and is perceived and valued differently in different cultures. This also applies to different strata within societies. The fact of a global world of knowledge and its horizontally and vertically different perception, interpretation and usage raises several problems. These can be explained above all by the sociogenesis of the global knowledge world and its fundamental lines and moments of development. Even a brief look at history shows that knowledge has been and is exchanged from earliest times till nowadays. This fact in turn raises questions and problems that we want to address systematically. What is “knowledge”? Sciences? Arts and crafts? When, by whom, in what form was knowledge disseminated? What is knowledge transfer? Exchange? Is it a mere transport, a deliberate exchange, or a kind of silent appropriation of foreign knowledge? In the following, some of these questions will be dealt with systematically. The historical material as well overarching question is the exchange of knowledge in Eurasia and here specifically the transfer and exchange of knowledge between Europe and China. After a preliminary clarification of terms and questions, the transfer of knowledge between Europe and China from the earliest times up to the Yuan Dynasty will be surveyed. Subsequently, the basic concepts and questions can be discussed and sharpened for further research. An outlook on the historical phase of a deliberate transfer and finally exchange of knowledge between China and Europe since the early modern period concludes the study. The aim of this work is not primarily to describe the historical course of individual exchange processes, but to clarify questions and problems for future empirical studies regarding the research landscape.