[malcolmarnoldnyc]

Hello,

I believe that I am confusing my sources/names in history. I remember learning from somewhere (I thought it was the lecture in Western Civilization Since 1500) that someone was writing an Encyclopedia to contain all knowledge and then the plan was to burn all the books. Thus the encyclopedia would be the official knowledge set.

While the name Denis Diderot was discussed in one of the lectures, I can’t remember if it was him. After reading the Wikipedia entry on him, I doubt it would be him.

Does any remember who in history or what episode in history that I may be thinking of?

Any thoughts shared on this subject matter of using the Encyclopedia or a set of books as a way to control knowledge are appreciated.

Thanks for any help.

Malcolm

[Jason Jewell]

Malcolm, I have never heard of such a plan. Diderot did aspire to collect all human knowledge in the Encyclopedie, but there was no corresponding “burn the books” component to the project. If you heard about such a plan, it wouldn’t have been from my lecture.

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