The theoretical framework that supports the intent of elaborating a knowledge organization system capable of overcoming the limitations of traditional dichotomous approach can be symbolized by the displacement of the visual representation of knowledge from the tree to the rhizome. In this context, the present work proposes the adoption of the philosophical notion of dispositif as the basic unit of knowledge in systems oriented by the retrieval. To achieve this, the historical origins of that displacement were studied and its impacts on the web – an informational environment that becomes larger at each moment, in terms of data volume, and more complex, in terms of dispersion and fragmentation of information – were studied. The work also discusses the challenges and possible developments regarding knowledge organization and information retrieval in the scope of the semantic web.