To what end knowledge organization

This paper is put up for discussion to help Knowledge Organization find its proper place. To begin with, a few basic concepts from the field of communication theory are defined. The new concepts permit the conclusion that what we are facing at present is not a flood of information but one of messages, and that this latter flood must not be equated indiscriminately with a knowledge flood. Messages must be judged on their contents. To this end, «knowledge» is subdivided into «core-», «peripheral», and «pseudo-knowledge», and it is argued that the great majority of scientific publications contains peripheral and pseudoknowledge. With the aid of two interlocking and self-amplying recursive mechanisms it is shown that and how pseudoknowledge is more and more gaining disciplines, hence precisely in those fields which deal with social problems in the broadest sense of the world; Thus a deficit of knowledge on which to base action is produced, leading to a general disorientation - a modern form of ignorance, keenly manifesting it self at present in a crisis of leadership. The research tasks resulting from the above for Knowledge Organization are roughly outlined