Sapience Knowledge Base


Since the invention of the printing press, there has been an explosion of knowledge and literature. It is difficult to be well informed and impossible to be expert in everything one may need to know in today's society. As a consequence, it is often more economical to specialize in some field or other than it is to know a little bit about a great many things. There are thousands of books, journals, and periodicals on narrowly specialized topics. There are a couple of difficulties with such specialization. One of them is that the more highly specialized some subect is, the more it is likely to develop a specialized jargon which is only understandable to those who are already familiar with the subject. This is seldom intentional, but it does provide a barrier to nonspecialists, and it may take years of specialist trainint just to be able to read what is written in a field one is unfamiliar with, let alone keep up with new developments. For one who does not wish to become an expert, there may be no need to go into such detail, and a translation is needed.	About Sapience Site Map What's new Independent Learning Forum History Sociology Institutions Culture Anthropology Personal studies Science
Another major difficulty with such specialization is that nothing exists in isolation, and everyday living crosses specialist boundaries time after time. Holidays have histories. Languages vary from country to country. Refrigerators are products of industrial societies. A physicist may have an interest in Mayan hieroglyphics, a farmer may wish to read Plato, an author of fiction may discusses public policy, or parents of a child with a rare disease may need to know more about it than most doctors. Thousands of examples could be given. Although there are many compilations of knowledge, such as encyclopedias, directories, guides, and search engines, most of these tend to present information in isolated lumps, rather like giving the name and address of some location in a distant city. An address alone, as most tourists can testify, can be useless without familiarity with the local geography. Another difficulty is that many such compilations are organized alphabetically. Although this is often useful for looking things up, it is worse than useless at revealing relationships among related topics. This site offers a guide and a map to human knowledge. I have grouped knowlege into seven major categories; History, Sociology, Institutions, Culture, Anthropology, Personal Studies, and Science, In past years, I have examined various other categorizations of books and knowledge, including Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal call numbers, the outline of knowledge in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and multiple university catalogs, and most of the subjects I have examined can fit within these major categories. While it is certainly not the only way to categorize knowledge, it is the best I have been able to come up with. These categories are further subdivided in a hierarchical, outline fashion. They are ordered roughly in decreasing order of complexity, except where some other ordering seems to make bore sense. The use of hyperlinks and the web makes it easy to either focus out on a broad overview or in on fine detail. It also permits exploration of topics from many points of view, and shows cross-links and interconnections between different areas. There is a common pattern used for the presentation of topics, which makes it easier to find what one is looking for. Alphabetical order is used only sparingly. It is intended for the self-motivated who wish to direct their own learning, starting from what they alrady know. This site is necessarily incomplete. There are many pages which only give a lick and a promise to the topic, and are composed mostly of links, which are not themselves very informative, and many which are skeletal without much meat. Work proceedes slowly. It takes time to research a topic, summarize and write meaningful content, create the links, create new pages for new subject, or divide other topics into digestible pieces. However, I make changes and improvements, large and small, on almost a daily basis, and every month or two update the site to include the latest changes. I welcome and appreciate comments, and invite visitors to check back from time to time to see what is new or changed. I have a webmaster e-mail address at the bottom of each page and have been summarizing ongoing work on my Independent Learning blog Updates may also be summarized in the what's new page. If you do not find what you are looking for, find mistakes and errors, or would like to comment or contribute, you may also visit the Independent Learning Forum. Be sapient!

Since the invention of the printing press, there has been an explosion of knowledge and literature. It is difficult to be well informed and impossible to be expert in everything one may need to know in today's society. As a consequence, it is often more economical to specialize in some field or other than it is to know a little bit about a great many things. There are thousands of books, journals, and periodicals on narrowly specialized topics.

There are a couple of difficulties with such specialization. One of them is that the more highly specialized some subect is, the more it is likely to develop a specialized jargon which is only understandable to those who are already familiar with the subject. This is seldom intentional, but it does provide a barrier to nonspecialists, and it may take years of specialist trainint just to be able to read what is written in a field one is unfamiliar with, let alone keep up with new developments. For one who does not wish to become an expert, there may be no need to go into such detail, and a translation is needed.

Another major difficulty with such specialization is that nothing exists in isolation, and everyday living crosses specialist boundaries time after time. Holidays have histories. Languages vary from country to country. Refrigerators are products of industrial societies. A physicist may have an interest in Mayan hieroglyphics, a farmer may wish to read Plato, an author of fiction may discusses public policy, or parents of a child with a rare disease may need to know more about it than most doctors. Thousands of examples could be given.

Although there are many compilations of knowledge, such as encyclopedias, directories, guides, and search engines, most of these tend to present information in isolated lumps, rather like giving the name and address of some location in a distant city. An address alone, as most tourists can testify, can be useless without familiarity with the local geography. Another difficulty is that many such compilations are organized alphabetically. Although this is often useful for looking things up, it is worse than useless at revealing relationships among related topics.

This site offers a guide and a map to human knowledge. I have grouped knowlege into seven major categories; History, Sociology, Institutions, Culture, Anthropology, Personal Studies, and Science, In past years, I have examined various other categorizations of books and knowledge, including Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal call numbers, the outline of knowledge in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and multiple university catalogs, and most of the subjects I have examined can fit within these major categories. While it is certainly not the only way to categorize knowledge, it is the best I have been able to come up with. These categories are further subdivided in a hierarchical, outline fashion. They are ordered roughly in decreasing order of complexity, except where some other ordering seems to make bore sense. The use of hyperlinks and the web makes it easy to either focus out on a broad overview or in on fine detail. It also permits exploration of topics from many points of view, and shows cross-links and interconnections between different areas. There is a common pattern used for the presentation of topics, which makes it easier to find what one is looking for. Alphabetical order is used only sparingly. It is intended for the self-motivated who wish to direct their own learning, starting from what they alrady know.

This site is necessarily incomplete. There are many pages which only give a lick and a promise to the topic, and are composed mostly of links, which are not themselves very informative, and many which are skeletal without much meat. Work proceedes slowly. It takes time to research a topic, summarize and write meaningful content, create the links, create new pages for new subject, or divide other topics into digestible pieces. However, I make changes and improvements, large and small, on almost a daily basis, and every month or two update the site to include the latest changes.

I welcome and appreciate comments, and invite visitors to check back from time to time to see what is new or changed. I have a webmaster e-mail address at the bottom of each page and have been summarizing ongoing work on my Independent Learning blog Updates may also be summarized in the what's new page. If you do not find what you are looking for, find mistakes and errors, or would like to comment or contribute, you may also visit the Independent Learning Forum. Be sapient!

History

The History section gives a broad outline of world history and a little information on major events. Prehistory includes the earliest known beginnings of human society, to 5000 BC. Antiquity includes the rise of the great civilizations of the Middle East, including Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Persians as the best known examples, from 5000 BC to 500 BC. Classical and Medieval history includes the origin of modern world religions, and a variety of other civilizations, including Greeks, Romans, the origins of modern Western nations, Indians, and Chinese during the period from 500 BC to 1500 CE. Modern history includes the worldwide expansion and influence of Western civilization since 1500 CE. The future is largely speculative, but is also considered.

Sociology

Societies are composed of groups of people, cultures, and institutions. Information on particular peoples of the world, including nations and civilizations, is included here. Particular communities are so far limited to the largest cities in the world. General principles are given in social structure and change.

Institutions

Social scientists have identified five major social institutions that appear to be present in all societies. These include religion, government, economics, education, and family.

Culture

Products of human activity are divided somewhat artificially into three divisions, corresponding to activities, ideas, and things. Behavioral culture includes discussion of cultural events, recreation and entertainment, occupations,and customs. Conceptual culture incudes discussion of philosophy, applied science, mathematics, literature, graphic arts, and language . Material culture includes discussion of manmade objects, artifacts and technology, such as miscellanous artifacts, communication devices, transportation technology, clothing, foodstuffs, buildings, and industrial technology.

Anthropology

The examination of people in groups at a basic level common to all human societies is at a lower level of complexity. Particular groups is concerned with named groups of people in a manner analogous to biography. Human geography is concerned with the human ecology, physical anthropology, and demography of specific places. Human ecology is concerned with how people influence the natural environmnent, how they are affected other life, and how they are affected by the natural environment. Physical anthropology is concerned with human dispersion, racial variation, and human origins. Demography is concerned with population change, population size and structure, and with the processes of population change including deaths, migration, and births. Social fundamentals deals with behavior and types of social groups, social control and interactions, and social appearance or presentation.

Personal Studies

The next step in decreasing complexity is the examination of human beings on the level of individuals. Biography is the examination of particular individuals. The examination of the human mind and behavior in psychology is vital to understanding individuals. These studies include the structure and functioning of the human body.

Science

The most basic area of study is the physical and natural sciences. Biology is the study of life and living things. Earth science is the study of the nonliving earth. Astronomy deals with objects visible above the earth. Chemistry has to do with particular substances and the changes they may undergo. Physics includes the laws and regularities of nature.

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