Topik und Tradition

The dynamic growth in knowledge during the late Middle Ages and early modern era challenged the classification and scientific systems of the time which were based on the concept of the Topics. Whereas previous research has above all stressed the static, conservative aspects of Topics, this volume aims conversely to highlight their flexibility and structural dynamic and thus to explain how such patterns came to dominate cultural administration, classification and structuring, indeed even the emergence of whole new complex bodies of knowledge. Examples given include the topics of emblematics, mnemonics, institutional history, the reception of Aristotle, pictorial allegories and Christian Kabbalah or how knowledge was canonised and passed down in China between the 15th and 17th centuries.>