Dialogical elements in Harris, Dewey, Cutter, Otlet, Kaiser, and Ranganathan: Theoretical convergences in the history of Knowledge Organization

Abstract

In this paper, we study the theoretical intersections and dialogues between some foundational authors on classification and
indexing of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that helped developing the theoretical-methodological framework of
knowledge organization. More specifically, we highlight and analyze the theoretical convergences of Harris, Dewey, Cutter, Otlet,
Kaiser, and Ranganathan as they can provide a clearer picture of the historical and theoretical contributions to the epistemological
foundations of knowledge organization. Our methodology follows a critical-descriptive approach to the analysis of the main
contributions of the authors and the critical reflections of some specialists and biographers. We continue with a discussion of
the links between bibliographic classifications and knowledge organization drawing on the ideas of Bliss; then, we divide our
historical narrative between the theoretical contributions during the nineteenth-century (Harris, Dewey, and Cutter) and the
twentieth century (Otlet, Kaiser, and Ranganathan); and finally, we present a discussion of the history of knowledge organization
from the point of view of the theoretical and methodological development of classification and indexing at the turn of the
nineteenth century to the twentieth century. We conclude with some remarks on their main contributions to the development
of the knowledge organization field.