What is a Zettelkasten?
Zettelkasten (literally ‘note box’ in German) is a knowledge management system popularised by the great scholar Niklas Luhmann. In recent years, the zettelkasten has become synonymous with digital apps such as Obsidian or Roam Research. However, my zettelkasten is completely analogue. The analogue notebox contains loose pieces of index cards, each containing information from different sources. Each card contains a unique address (e.g: 1a2a) which allows it to clump together with another, similar card. This ‘clumping of cards’ doesn’t happen on a hierarchical basis, but rather a semantic one. Over time, these individual bits of information come together to form knowledge within the notebox1.
I don’t wish to turn this essay into a deep analysis of the anatomy of the zettelkasten. So, I will now begin explaining why I have decided to use it to support my goal of writing an essay each week for the rest of this year2.
Zettelkasten: a publication machine
Past scholars have argued that the zettelkasten is a ‘publication machine’. What do they mean by this? Well, as knowledge grows within the notebox, certain ‘branches’ of notes begin to shape into something that could be considered valuable material for writing. See, you already went through the slow and laborious effort of figuring out where to best install new piece of information. As a result, when you go to begin writing, most of the heavy lifting has already been done for you. Luhmann himself argued that the zettelkasten is like a complex system of a ruminant (such as a cow). This is because as you incorporate insights from different sources, those insights can slowly begin developing and interacting within the internal structure. It’s this internal connectivity present within the notebox which then decides what will be worthy of writing or not.
Accidents, surprises, and the like
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” – Carl Jung
Luhmann argued that his books practically wrote themselves. This was largely due to the accidental nature of the notebox itself. As the ideas within the system were never preconceived or planned, they end up creating novel interactions. These new interactions are the main reason behind starting a zettelkasten. Often two separate ideas with two separate goals get into a close proximity of one another. This interaction may cause new insights to appear. Indeed, Luhmann also aserted that the most fruitful types of insights usually appear as a result of the meeting of completely different, heterogeneous ideas. It’s these interactions, compeltely accidental in nature, which blesses the user of a zettelkasten with pleasant surprises and sudden flashes of insights. Moreover, as each idea has already been processed, when writing you now get to re-process your already processed thoughts which facilitates further understanding and better grounds you as a writer.
Ghost in the box
When talking about his own zettelkasten, Luhmann often refered to the idea of a ‘ghost in the box’. It describes the phenomenon when the notebox begins creating its own ideas – seemingly independent from its creator. How does this happen? As the different ideas which are thoughtfully curated clump together, it creates a quasi-conversation. This is different from information written inside a commonplace book or your usual academic notebook. In your usual analogue (and digital) notetaking tools the information is mostly random, only chunked together based on the category and the source it came from. It’s different narratives from different authors which slowly interchange. However, the notebox allows for different sources to become intertwined, and the heterogeinous interactions begin creating meaningful discussions. At that point, the notebox stops merely storing information; it becomes a conversation partner.
The fact that the zettelkasten now has a ghost-like quality is not trivial for writers. It is difficult to tell how similar or different you and your notebox are. As time goes on, you will both enlighten each other with new insights. Equally as important for writers, you now also never have to start from scratch. Each note does not begin and end with a given project or book in mind; the information can now continue ‘brewing’ for the coming months, years and decades. This may then lead to a completely new piece of written work in the future.
‘How long will it be until my own zettelkasten becomes an active conversation partner?’ you may ask. Well. It depends. Luhmann once mentioned that it takes years for this quality to arise. Scott Scheper, an author of a book on the zettelkasten, argues it took him only a few months (however it’s worth mentioning he worked with his zettelkasten full time for many months). What do I think from my own experience? I cannot yet tell as I have only had my notebox for a few weeks. However, I would still have to store this information somewhere, so I may as well flip a coin and hope that the whole becomes greater than the sum of the notes.
Zettelkasten as a lifelong practice
One big selling point of the zettelkasten for me has been its emphasis on compounding over time. Niklas Luhmann developed his notebox for roughly 45 years. He created 90,000 notes from the thousands of books he read. Within that time he managed to publish over 70 books and 400 scholarly articles. Although the quality of that writing could be scrutinised (he was known not to be overly concerend with nitty-gritty editing), that is still an output that is practically unheard of.
Luhmann worked as a professor on his theory of society over many decades. For him, a knowledge system which changes with each project made little sense. For you, however, that may be different. However, I personally stand with Luhmann, and would like my knowledge to compound over the coming years and decades to hopefully help support my goal of writing more. The zettelkasten is perfect for this type of goal, and it was just what Luhmann needed too. Or in his own words: “I started the index card file because it was obvious to me I would have to plan for a lifetime not for a book”.
- Look up the ‘DIKW pyramid’ more information on the relationship between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. ↩︎
- You may wonder why I’m talking here about developing another habit despite my previous essay talking about me developing only one habit this year (meditation). Well, I view this ‘writing’ thing as more of a challenge — a way of stretching myself and exploring different research areas for myself. So, in that regard, I don’t view this as being in conflict with my previous post in any way. ↩︎
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