From the Invalidity of a General Classifícation Theory to a new Organization of Knowledge for the Mülennium to come Rosa San Segundo Manuel Department of Iibrary and Information Sciences, Carlos III University of Madrid Abstract The idea of organizing knowledge and the determinism in classifícation structures implicitly involve certain limits which are translated into a General Theory on the Classifícation of Knowledge, given that classifícation responds to specific parameters and structures more than to a theoretical concept. The classifícation of things is a refiection of their classifícation by man, and this is what determines classifícation structures. The classifícation and organization of knowledge are presented to us as an artificial construct or as a useful fiction elaborated by man. Positivist knowledge reached its peak in the 20* century when science classifications and implemented classifícation systems based on the latter were to be gestated and Consolidated. Pragmatism was to serve as the epistemological and theoretical basis for science and its classifícation. If the classifícation of the sciences has given rise to clastification systems, the organisation and representation of knowledge has to currendy give rise to the context of the globalisation of electronic information in the hypertextual organisational form of electronic information where, if in information the médium ivas the message, in organisation the médium is the structure. The virtual reality of electronic information delves even deeper into it; the process is completed as the subject attempts to look for information. This information market needs standards of an international nature for documents and data. This body of information organization will be characterized by its dynamic nature. If formal and material structures change our concept of knowledge and the way it is structured, then this organization will undergo dynamic change along with the material and formal structures of the real world. The semantic web is a qualitative leap which can be glimpsed on tiie new knowledge horizon; the latter would be shaped with the full integration of contents and data, the language itself would include data and its rules of reason or representation system. The new organisation of knowledge points to a totally nCw conception; post-modern epistemology has yet to be articulated. In the 21 st century, the organization of electronic information is presenting a novel hypertextual, non-linear architecture that will lead to a new change in the paradigm for organization of knowledge for the mülennium to come. 1. Invalidity ofa General theory on the classifícation The concept of organizing knowledge, or classifying information and scientific data, is one of the most ancient that man has had to live with. This problem carne about as a result of man's need to créate a system for all of bis knowledge about the outside world and about the knowledge process. The very idea of organizing knowledge and the determinism in classifícation structures implicidy involve certain limits which are translated into a General Theory on the Classifícation of Knowledge, given that classifícation responds to specific Ohly/Netscher/Mitgutsch: Compatibility, Media and Ethics in Knowledge Organization. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2008