In the German Empire, owning a Konversationslexikon, a general encyclopedia, carried high social status, and wide sections of the population wanted one. The Brockhaus was one of them. Its publisher, Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, bought the rights to an existing encyclopedia at the Leipzig Book Fair in 1808. The last printed edition, the 21st, appeared in 30 volumes in 2005 and 2006. The complete set cost 2,820 euros. Sales of the printed Brockhaus ended on 30 June 2014.
Spiegel Readers Know More
For more than forty years, the news magazine Der Spiegel advertised itself with one sentence: Spiegel-Leser wissen mehr. “Spiegel readers know more.” In January 2015 the magazine replaced it with Keine Angst vor der Wahrheit, no fear of the truth.
Knowing More Than Others
der Wissensvorsprung, der Informationsvorsprung — a lead in knowledge, a lead in information. The Duden example sentence reads: Die Leserinnen und Leser unserer Zeitung haben einen Wissensvorsprung gegenüber anderen. “The readers of our newspaper have a lead in knowledge over others.”
das Insiderwissen — insider knowledge, which only an insider can acquire
der Geheimtipp — a secret tip, passed on personally by someone in the know
eingeweiht sein — to be initiated, to be in on it
wissen, wo der Hammer hängt — to know where the hammer hangs, to know exactly how things work
Ich weiß was, was du nicht weißt. — I know something you don’t know. A children’s taunt.
Knowledge Is Power, Power Is Knowledge
Wissen ist Macht, knowledge is power, goes back to Francis Bacon, who wrote in Latin in 1597: Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est. In Germany the phrase belongs to the labor movement. On 5 February 1872, Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founders of German Social Democracy, gave a lecture to the Dresden workers’ education association. Its title was Wissen ist Macht – Macht ist Wissen. In it he said: Das Wissen ist für die Herrschenden, die Unwissenheit für die Beherrschten. “Knowledge is for the rulers, ignorance for the ruled.” He called this the innermost nature of rule.
Liebknecht did not praise this order. He demanded that workers win political power and remove the barriers that kept them from knowledge.
Official Secrecy, Weber’s View
In Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Economy and Society, Max Weber described how bureaucracy uses what it knows. Its officials have the advantage of professional knowledge. Diese Überlegenheit des berufsmäßig Wissenden sucht jede Bürokratie noch durch das Mittel der Geheimhaltung ihrer Kenntnisse und Absichten zu steigern. “Every bureaucracy seeks to increase this superiority of the professionally informed even further by keeping its knowledge and intentions secret.” Weber added that the concept of the Amtsgeheimnis, official secrecy, is bureaucracy’s own invention, and that a poorly informed and therefore powerless parliament naturally suits it better.
Herrschaftswissen
The Duden dictionary defines Herrschaftswissen as knowledge that a person has acquired through their position or official duties and that is not accessible to others. It serves the exercise of power over others. The DWDS dictionary defines it as knowledge gained through individual experience, or kept from the public by restricted access, that someone can use to their own advantage. German Wikipedia adds that in its widest, colloquial sense the word is critical and comes close to cunning. It then means a lead in knowledge that someone uses to secure their position.
Herrschaftswissen
The Duden dictionary defines Herrschaftswissen as knowledge that a person has acquired through their position or official duties and that is not accessible to others. It serves the exercise of power over others. The DWDS dictionary defines it as knowledge gained through individual experience, or kept from the public by restricted access, that someone can use to their own advantage. German Wikipedia adds that in its widest, colloquial sense the word is critical and comes close to cunning. It then means a lead in knowledge that someone uses to secure their position.
Official Secrecy, Weber’s View
In Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Economy and Society, Max Weber described how bureaucracy uses what it knows. Its officials have the advantage of professional knowledge. Diese Überlegenheit des berufsmäßig Wissenden sucht jede Bürokratie noch durch das Mittel der Geheimhaltung ihrer Kenntnisse und Absichten zu steigern. “Every bureaucracy seeks to increase this superiority of the professionally informed even further by keeping its knowledge and intentions secret.” Weber added that the concept of the Amtsgeheimnis, official secrecy, is bureaucracy’s own invention, and that a poorly informed and therefore powerless parliament naturally suits it better.
Knowledge Is Power, Power Is Knowledge
Wissen ist Macht, knowledge is power, goes back to Francis Bacon, who wrote in Latin in 1597: Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est. In Germany the phrase belongs to the labor movement. On 5 February 1872, Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founders of German Social Democracy, gave a lecture to the Dresden workers’ education association. Its title was Wissen ist Macht – Macht ist Wissen. In it he said: Das Wissen ist für die Herrschenden, die Unwissenheit für die Beherrschten. “Knowledge is for the rulers, ignorance for the ruled.” He called this the innermost nature of rule.
Liebknecht did not praise this order. He demanded that workers win political power and remove the barriers that kept them from knowledge.
Spiegel Readers Know More
For more than forty years, the news magazine Der Spiegel advertised itself with one sentence: Spiegel-Leser wissen mehr. “Spiegel readers know more.” In January 2015 the magazine replaced it with Keine Angst vor der Wahrheit, no fear of the truth.