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Vom Wesen der langz?ngigen Schl?rfm?use: Das Schnabeltier und die Entwicklung der Informationsgesellschaft
Author(s) -
Herren Madeleine
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
berichte zur wissenschaftsgeschichte
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1522-2365
pISSN - 0170-6233
DOI - 10.1002/bewi.200290003
Subject(s) - platypus , encyclopedia , context (archaeology) , order (exchange) , history , philosophy , zoology , biology , linguistics , archaeology , finance , economics
In 1798, the skin of a platypus started to disturb the European scientific community. Even before researchers confirmed that the furry animal with a duck's bill was an egg‐laying mammal, the platypus was a challenge to contemporary taxonomies. Although a scientific interest in the platypus is self‐evident, the animal's appearance in encyclopaedias and dictionaries needs an explanation. The essay discusses the presence of the platypus in the encyclopaedias of the 19th and 20th century by asking why a rare animal without economic significance came into an encyclopaedia where knowledge had to be reduced to information of general interest. Therefore, the transformation of the platypus in a part of general knowledge describes the presence of order even outside the philosophical discourse described by Foucault. As a visual expression of order, the platypus gives an example how knowledge and society are connected, and how a social and cultural context influenced the supposed objective description of an animal.