From vertical to horizontal mnemotechnic trees : learning and visualizing knowledge from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Times
Résumé
In the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, the image of the tree and the tree diagram are used as taxinomic and propaedeutic tools so as to organize and classify arts and sciences by their mnemotechnic qualities. As a material and mind map, the tree structure ensures the visual and mental trailability of knowledge.
In the early 16th century, in parallel with the development of humanistic rhetoric, philosophy and philology, some arborescent diagram change their form. Indeed, by studying a large corpus, one can realize that, from vertical structures that lead the spectator/reader from human knowledge to God, they become horizontal structures, that incite the spectator/reader to browse them from left to right, as if they were reading a text. The presentation suggests a study of this change of orientation. Which fields of knwoledge and sciences are concerned ? To what purpose ? By whom, in which context ? Is this change linked to the humanistic process of vulgarisation ? Could one understand it through the premises of a culture of progress that no longer seeks truth in God but in science and experimentation ?