Reviewing Encyclopaedia Authority

Abstract

As traditional encyclopaedias appear to be loosing the favour of the general public, the current paper investigates the extent to which encyclopaedias are still presented as authoritative texts. Here, authority in texts is mostly construed from the theory of cognitive authority according to Józef Maria Bochenski, Richard De George, and Patrick Wilson; in particular from their reflections on the roles, measures and bases of cognitive authority. The content of 80 book reviews on science and technology encyclopaedias is analysed in order to highlight comments pertaining to encyclopaedia authority. Although many aspects of cognitive authorities are covertly discussed within these book reviews, encyclopaedias are not explicitly presented as absolute authorities.