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Indeed, the envisioning of Wikipedia as the sum of all human knowledge is an historical continuation of earlier encyclopedias that set up a particular relationship between the expert and the layperson, the non-expert, or the learner, as the receivers of knowledge. The very definition of the encyclopedia is that it is comprehensive ‒ that it holds a summary of all information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch. That encyclopedias describe themselves as representing all that is known reflects a particular understanding of knowledge that implicitly rejects the idea that some knowledge cannot (and perhaps should not) be known to all.
Indeed, the envisioning of Wikipedia as the sum of all human knowledge is an historical continuation of
earlier encyclopedias that set up a particular relationship between the expert and the layperson, the non-expert, or the learner, as the receivers of knowledge.
The very definition of the encyclopedia is that it is comprehensive ‒ that it holds a summary of all information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch.
That encyclopedias describe themselves as representing all that is known reflects a particular understanding of knowledge that implicitly rejects the idea that some knowledge cannot (and perhaps should not) be known to all.