Die Aufsätze von Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann befassen sich mit der Wissensgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit und behandeln die für diese Zeit zentralen Wissenschaften: die Philologie und die Theologie. Zudem wird die Topik als Methode der enzyklopädischen Wissensordnung untersucht. In ihrem durch die Theologie vorgegebenem Rahmen wird das Wissen der Welt gefasst, sofern es durch den göttlichen Schöpfungsakt zugewiesen ist. Es ist das Wissen, das vor dem Sündenfall dem Menschen zukam, das im Prozess der Geschichte wiedergewonnen und sich am Ende der Geschichte in der Anschauung Gottes vollenden wird. Der wissenschaftliche Fortschritt besteht mithin in der Annäherung an den Status der beseligenden Theorie.

Autorentext
Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann ist emeritierter Professor für Geschichte der Philosophie und der Geisteswissenschaften an der Freien Universität Berlin.

Leseprobe
This compilation of four essays aims primarily to present the history of knowledge in the early modern era with the help of examples. The essays focus on early modern sciences that were central to the historical orientation of the time, i. e., speculatively interpreted philology and philologically interpreted theology. It was here that the key concepts of historical self-interpretation were negotiated: the position of one's own time in the history of the world, the possibilities of philology, an authoritative understanding of the revelation of the history of salvation, the question of organising truth and prophecy. The collection of essays examines the formal, organisational criteria within history and philology in the Early Modern era, i. e. the encyclopedia. Methods of classifying knowledge encyclopedically were a major topic during this period. Encyclopedias based on Topics were facilitated by a framework that was determined by theology and the key concepts of salvific history, i. e, the theology of creation, the Fall of Man and temporary redemption as well as the last judgement and the end of the world. The extent and classification of knowledge collected within this framework was regarded as the knowledge of the world - as long as it was assigned to and communicated through the divine act of creation. Human knowledge was considered part of God's wisdom in which and through which the world was created. This divine wisdom was considered the absolute measure of all knowledge. It was the knowledge that was given to humans before the Fall, it was the knowledge that was reacquired throughout the course of history, and the knowledge that at the end of time would culminate in the vision of God. Consequently, scientific progress consisted primarily of a gradual movement towards the status of beatific (divine/heavenly) theory. True knowledge that is organised scientifically was in this sense never just profane but was always related to the history of salvation.