Aristotle's Contribution to Scholarly Communication

292 Pages·2016·2.48 MB·English

by  Stephen Edward Bales

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Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School
12-2008
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Stephen Edward Bales
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss
Part of the Communication Commons
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Bales, Stephen Edward, "Aristotle’s Contribution to Scholarly Communication. " PhD diss., University of
Tennessee, 2008.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/475
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 
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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 
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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 

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