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Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences pp 1–7Cite as

Apprenticeship, Guilds, and Craft Knowledge

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Introduction: Learning on the Shop Floor

As shown in the entry “Artisanal knowledge and craftsmanship,” practical skills and craft knowledge were predominantly acquired on the shop floor throughout the medieval and early modern period. Skills and technical knowledge were passed on from father to son or from master to apprentice in a process of learning by doing. While the master demonstrated the tricks of the trade to the apprentice, the latter learned by imitating and in a process of trial and error. Whenever needed, the father or master – or perhaps also a journeyman – explained what went wrong and needed to be improved (De Munck and Soly 2007; recent views in Prak and Wallis 2019a). As this implied the investment of time and effort from the part of the master and entailed the risk of loss when the apprentice for instance spoiled a batch of raw material, the parents or the guardians of the apprentice were mostly required to compensate the master. This could be done in a financial...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Urban History/Urban Studies Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Bert De Munck

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  1. Bert De Munck
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Correspondence to Bert De Munck .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Dana Jalobeanu

  2. Dept. of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University Dept. Philosophy & Moral Sci, Ghent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium

    Charles T. Wolfe

Section Editor information

  1. Wissenschaftsgeschichte/History of Science, Technische Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Cesare Pastorino

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De Munck, B. (2020). Apprenticeship, Guilds, and Craft Knowledge. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_247-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_247-1

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