Structuring the history of knowledge in an age of transition: The Göttingen Geschichte between historia literaria and the rise of the disciplines

This article traces the conceptual origins of the famous Göttingen History of the Arts
and Sciences since their Renewal to the end of the eighteenth century, prepared by a
company of learned men, published in 1796–1820 and overseen by Johann Gottfried
Eichhorn. In its overall structure and in many of its parts, it was the last representative
of the tradition of historia literaria. This tradition came to an end around 1800 due to
the accumulation and specialization of knowledge rather than because of a new philosophical
conception of how to classify knowledge—although there were various proposals
for such classifications, primarily in German territories.