Knowledge as a Commons: Philosophical Roots of Openness in East and West

Authors

  • Edwige Pierot INISTICNRS Institut de I’information Scientifique et Technique, France
  • Nayana Nair French Institute of India, Pondicherry
  • Kiran Jacob Pontifical Lateran University, Rome

Keywords:

Open Science, Open Knowledge, Open Access, Knowledge, Western Thought, Eastern Thought, Philosophy, Marx, Vedadikara Nirupanam, Communist Manifesto

Abstract

Western intellectual traditions have long recognized knowledge as a decisive force shaping economic productivity, social organization, and political authority. From the Enlightenment onward, the gradual displacement of theological authority by scientific rationality raised critical questions not only about the value of knowledge, but also about its accessibility, circulation, and social purpose. Although early thinkers did not employ contemporary terms such as Open Science or knowledge commons, many articulated principles emphasizing dissemination, public reasoning, and shared intellectual resources as essential conditions for social progress. This paper offers a bird’s-eye view of the concept of knowledge as power and the ethical imperative of its wide dissemination, as articulated across Eastern and Western intellectual traditions. It traces convergent ideas from Western thinkers such as Rousseau and Marx, to Eastern philosophical lineages represented by Sankara and Chattampi Swamikal, and extends the discussion to modern theorists including Joseph Schumpeter and Alvin Toffler. By situating contemporary debates on open knowledge within these broader philosophical trajectories, the paper highlights a shared civilizational concern with knowledge as a collective resource vital for social transformation and human emancipation.

Author Biographies

  • Edwige Pierot, INISTICNRS Institut de I’information Scientifique et Technique, France
    Edwige Pierot is an Information scientist at INISTICNRS Institut de I’information Scientifique et Technique, France, where she works on digital library projects and services. Received PhD for her work on ‘Digital humanities and knowledge organization: proposing a model of interoperability between epistemic communities in Information and Communication Science’ from Doctoral School of Cognition, Language and Education, Aix-Marseille University (France). She is involved in developing the digitisation and OCR solutions for exposing content of online scientific and technical document collections. Her areas of interest include Empowerment, Knowledge Management, Information Culture, Digital Humanities, Collective Intelligence, and Cultural and Semantic Interoperability. She has numerous published research papers and conference presentations to her credit.
  • Nayana Nair, French Institute of India, Pondicherry

    Nayana Nair is Librarian at French Institute, Pondicherry. An interdisciplinary researcher and information science professional with a Ph.D. in International Relations and Information Science from Mahatma Gandhi University; her doctoral dissertation, “Big Data in International Relations: A Study of Indo-US Twitter Diplomacy’ explored the impact of social media and data analytics on diplomatic practices. An alumna of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (MLISc) and The English and Foreign Languages University (B.A. English Hons.), she is also a UGC-JRF awardee. She has contributed to projects on digital repositories, manuscript preservation, innovation management, and the history of mathematics at institutions including IIT Gandhinagar, the Science Policy Institute, University of Kerala, Central University of Kerala, and the P.N. Panicker Foundation. She has also served as an invited lecturer, on digital technology applications at the University of Kerala.

  • Kiran Jacob, Pontifical Lateran University, Rome
    Kiran Jacob is a Syro-Malabar Catholic priest. He is currently a research scholar at the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, Italy. He has completed his Licentiate in Ecclesiology from the same  University, developing a solid foundation in contemporary and conciliar ecclesiological studies. His philosophical formation was completed at UC College, Alwaye-Kerala where he earned academic degrees Bachelor of Arts: Philosophy. Hhas also successfully completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from the Pontifical Oriental Institute of Religious Studies (Paurastya Vidyapitham), Kottayam- Kerala.

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Image of Chattampi Swamikal (as in 1924)

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Published

2025-12-01

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 4 (2025): Chattampi Swamikal and Open Knowledge

Section

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