Between Concealment and Disclosure: Approaches to the History of Privacy in Knowledge-Making

Abstract

e tend to associate knowledge with the mind, the Wintellect, or the brain, butmuchofwhatwe come to know starts with concrete engagements with the world. Experimentation, rehearsal, repetition, habit formation—all of these are intrinsic to getting to know something, and getting to know it well. Because it often involves trial and error, knowledge development is done more comfortably in private, where the knowledge-maker remains unobserved while learning or developing something new. Even when practices of knowledge-making achieve a stage where they require social engagement, there might still be a concern for maintaining a certain level of privacy. Groups create strategies to confine the spreading of their techniques. Masters and apprentices share their knowledge under strict rules of the trade. Cooks conceal key ingredients from the tasters of their delicacies, and basically every grandparent is the