Scientia potentia est

Last updated
American Information Awareness Office seal with its motto scientia est potentia IAO-logo.png
American Information Awareness Office seal with its motto scientia est potentia
Logos science magazine Znanie -- sila (USSR/Russia) - in translation "Knowledge is power" Zn sila logos.svg
Logos science magazine Znanie — sila (USSR/Russia) - in translation "Knowledge is power"

The phrase "scientia potentia est" (or "scientia est potentia" or also "scientia potestas est") is a Latin aphorism meaning "knowledge is power", commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. The expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's Meditationes Sacrae (1597). The exact phrase "scientia potentia est" (knowledge is power) was written for the first time in the 1668 version of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, who was a secretary to Bacon as a young man. The related phrase "sapientia est potentia" is often translated as "wisdom is power". [1]

Contents

History

Origins and parallels

A proverb in practically the same wording is found in Hebrew, in the Biblical Book of Proverbs (24:5): גֶּבֶר-חָכָם בַּעוֹז; וְאִישׁ-דַּעַת, מְאַמֶּץ-כֹּחַ. This was translated in the Latin Vulgata as "vir sapiens fortis est et vir doctus robustus et validus" [2] and in the King James Version as "A wise man is strong, a man of knowledge increaseth strength". [3] The Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1019/1025) wrote توانا بود هر که دانا بود (tavânâ bûd har ke dânâ bû) "Mighty is the one who has knowledge."

Thomas Hobbes

The first known reference of the exact phrase appeared in the Latin edition of Leviathan (1668; the English version had been published in 1651). This passage from Part 1 ("De Homine"), Chapter X ("De Potentia, Dignitate et Honore") occurs in a list of various attributes of man which constitute power; in this list, "sciences" or "the sciences" are given a minor position:

Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti [4]

In the English version this passage reads as thus:

The sciences are small powers; because not eminent, and therefore, not acknowledged in any man; nor are at all, but in a few, and in them, but of a few things. For science is of that nature, as none can understand it to be, but such as in a good measure have attained it. [5]

On a later work, De Corpore (1655), also written in Latin, Hobbes expanded the same idea:

The end or scope of philosophy is, that we may make use to our benefit of effects formerly seen ... for the commodity of human life ... The end of knowledge is power ... lastly, the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action, or thing to be done. [6]

In Hobbes and the social contract tradition (1988), Jean Hampton indicates that this quote is 'after Bacon' and in a footnote, that 'Hobbes was Bacon's secretary as a young man and had philosophical discussions with him' (Aubrey 1898, 331). [7]

Francis Bacon

Sir Francis Bacon, "ipsa scientia potestas est
" (knowledge itself is power). Meditationes Sacrae (1597). Francis Bacon (philosopher, statesman, born 1561).jpg
Sir Francis Bacon, "ipsa scientia potestas est" (knowledge itself is power). Meditationes Sacrae (1597).

The closest expression in Bacon's works is, perhaps, the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est", found in his Meditationes Sacrae (1597), which is translated as "knowledge itself is power":

statuuntque latiores terminos scientiae Dei quam potestatis, vel potius ejus partis potestatis Dei (nam et ipsa scientia potestas est) qua scit, quam ejus qua movet et agit: ut praesciat quaedam otiose, quae non praedestinet et praeordinet.

One of many differing English translations of this section includes the following:

This canon is the mother of all canons against heresies. The cause of error is twofold : ignorance of the will of God, and ignorance or superficial consideration of the power of God. The will of God is more revealed through the Scriptures… his power more through his creatures… So is the plenitude of God's power to be asserted, as not to involve any imputation upon his will. So is the goodness of his will to be asserted, as not to imply any derogation of his power. … Atheism and Theomachy rebels and mutinies against the power of God ; not trusting to his word, which reveals his will, because it does not believe in his power, to whom all things are possible… But of the heresies which deny the power of God, there are, besides simple atheism, three degrees…

The third degree is of those who limit and restrain the former opinion to human actions only, which partake of sin: which actions they suppose to depend substantively and without any chain of causes upon the inward will and choice of man; and who give a wider range to the knowledge of God than to his power; or rather to that part of God's power (for knowledge itself is power) whereby he knows, than to that whereby he works and acts ; suffering him to fore know some things as an unconcerned looker on, which he does not predestine and preordain : a notion not unlike the figment which Epicurus introduced into the philosophy of Democritus, to get rid of fate and make room for fortune; namely the sidelong motion of the Atom; which has ever by the wiser sort been accounted a very empty device.

pp. 94–95; Works of Bacon, Vol XIV, Boston; Brown and Taggard, 1861

Interpretation of the notion of power meant by Bacon must therefore take into account his distinction between the power of knowing and the power of working and acting, the opposite of what is assumed when the maxim is taken out of context. [8] Indeed, the quotation has become a cliche.

In the better-known Novum Organum , Bacon wrote, "Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule." [9]

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his essay Old Age, included in the collection Society and Solitude (1870):

Skill to do comes of doing; knowledge comes by eyes always open, and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power. [10]

Wissen ist Macht in Germany

After the 1871 unification of Germany, "Wissen ist Macht, geographisches Wissen ist Weltmacht" (Knowledge is power, geographical knowledge is world power) was often used in German geography and the public discussion to support efforts for a German colonial empire after 1880. Julius Perthes e.g., used the motto for his publishing house. [11] However, this installation of geographical research followed popular requests and was not imposed by the government. [12] Especially Count Bismarck was not much interested in German colonial adventures; his envoy Gustav Nachtigal started with the first protective areas, but was more interested in ethnological aspects.

After World War I, German geography tried to contribute to efforts to regain a world power. Scholars like Karl Haushofer, a former general, and his son Albrecht Haushofer (both in close contact with Rudolf Hess) got worldwide attention with their concept of geopolitics. Associations of German geographers and school teachers welcomed the Machtergreifung and hoped to get further influence in the new regime.

The postwar geography was much more cautious; concepts of political geography and projection of power had not been widespread scholarly topics until 1989 in Germany.

Geographical knowledge is however still of importance in Germany. Germans tend to mock US politicians' and celebrities' comparable lack of interest in the topic. A Sponti (Außerparlamentarische Opposition) version of the slogan is "Wissen ist Macht, nichts wissen macht auch nichts", a pun about the previous motto along the line "Knowledge is power, but being ignorant doesn't bother anyway". Joschka Fischer and Daniel Cohn-Bendit belong to those Spontis that nevertheless held powerful positions, in Fischer's case with no more formal education than a taxi driver's licence.[ need quotation to verify ]

The German Bundeswehr Bataillon Elektronische Kampfführung 932, an electronic warfare unit based in Frankenberg (Eder), still uses the Latin version Scientia potentia est as its motto.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Bacon</span> English philosopher and statesman (1561–1626)

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban PC, known as Lord Verulam between 1618 and 1621, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon led the advancement of both natural philosophy and the scientific method, and his works remained influential even in the late stages of the Scientific Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Bacon</span> Medieval philosopher and theologian

Roger Bacon, also known by the scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiricism. In the early modern era, he was regarded as a wizard and particularly famed for the story of his mechanical or necromantic brazen head. He is sometimes credited as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method, along with his teacher Robert Grosseteste. Bacon applied the empirical method of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) to observations in texts attributed to Aristotle. Bacon discovered the importance of empirical testing when the results he obtained were different from those that would have been predicted by Aristotle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hobbes</span> English philosopher (1588–1679)

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, theology, and ethics, as well as philosophy in general. He is often considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baconian method</span> Investigative process

The Baconian method is the investigative method developed by Francis Bacon, one of the founders of modern science, and thus a first formulation of a modern scientific method. The method was put forward in Bacon's book Novum Organum (1620), or 'New Method', and was supposed to replace the methods put forward in Aristotle's Organon. This method was influential upon the development of the scientific method in modern science; but also more generally in the early modern rejection of medieval Aristotelianism.

<i>Bellum omnium contra omnes</i> Latin phrase coined by Thomas Hobbes

Bellum omnium contra omnes, a Latin phrase meaning "the war of all against all", is the description that Thomas Hobbes gives to human existence in the state-of-nature thought experiment that he conducts in De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651). The common modern English usage is a war of "each against all" where war is rare and terms such as "competition" or "struggle" are more common.

<i>Leviathan</i> (Hobbes book) Book by Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly referred to as Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan. The work concerns the structure of society and legitimate government, and is regarded as one of the earliest and most influential examples of social contract theory. Written during the English Civil War (1642–1651), it argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Hobbes wrote that civil war and the brute situation of a state of nature could be avoided only by a strong, undivided government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intellectualism</span> Mental perspective

Intellectualism is the mental perspective that emphasizes the use, development, and exercise of the intellect, and is identified with the life of the mind of the intellectual. In the field of philosophy, the term intellectualism indicates one of two ways of critically thinking about the character of the world: (i) rationalism, which is knowledge derived solely from reason; and (ii) empiricism, which is knowledge derived solely from sense experience. Each intellectual approach attempts to eliminate fallacies that ignore, mistake, or distort evidence about "what ought to be" instead of "what is" the character of the world.

In philosophy, potentiality and actuality are a pair of closely connected principles which Aristotle used to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, and De Anima.

<i>Jerusalem</i> (Mendelssohn book) Book by Moses Mendelssohn

Jerusalem, or on Religious Power and Judaism is a book written by Moses Mendelssohn, which was first published in 1783 – the same year when the Prussian officer Christian Wilhelm von Dohm published the second part of his Mémoire Concerning the amelioration of the civil status of the Jews. Moses Mendelssohn was one of the key figures of Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) and his philosophical treatise, dealing with social contract and political theory, can be regarded as his most important contribution to Haskalah. The book which was written in Prussia on the eve of the French Revolution, consisted of two parts and each one was paginated separately. The first part discusses "religious power" and the freedom of conscience in the context of the political theory, and the second part discusses Mendelssohn's personal conception of Judaism concerning the new secular role of any religion within an enlightened state. In his publication Moses Mendelssohn combined a defense of the Jewish population against public accusations with contemporary criticism of the present conditions of the Prussian Monarchy.

De Cive is one of Thomas Hobbes's major works. The book was published originally in Latin from Paris in 1642, followed by two further Latin editions in 1647 from Amsterdam. The English translation of the work made its first appearance four years later under the title Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society.

<i>Leviathan and the Air-Pump</i> Book by Steven Shapin

Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life is a book by Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer. It examines the debate between Robert Boyle and Thomas Hobbes over Boyle's air-pump experiments in the 1660s. In 2005, Shapin and Schaffer were awarded the Erasmus Prize for this work.

Anglo-Latin literature is literature from Britain originally written in Latin. It includes literature written in Latin from parts of Britain which were not in England or English-speaking: "Anglo-" is used here as a prefix meaning British rather than English.

<i>Disputationes de Controversiis</i> 16th-century work on dogmatics by Robert Bellarmine

Disputationes, also referred to as De Controversiis or the Controversiae, is a work on dogmatics in three volumes by Robert Bellarmine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British philosophy</span> Philosophical tradition of the British people

British philosophy refers to the philosophical tradition of the British people. "The native characteristics of British philosophy are these: common sense, dislike of complication, a strong preference for the concrete over the abstract and a certain awkward honesty of method in which an occasional pearl of poetry is embedded".

This is a timeline of philosophy in the 17th century.

A.J.'s Time Travelers is a 1994 children's fantasy series that aired on the Fox television network. The series follows the adventures of teenager A.J. Malloy as he and his crew travel onboard the time-traveling ship Kyros, seeking knowledge across history.

<i>Der Gerechte kömmt um</i> (motet) Motet with arrangement attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach

Der Gerechte kömmt um, BWV 1149, is a motet for SSATB singers and instrumental ensemble, which, for its music, is based on the five-part a cappella motet Tristis est anima mea attributed to Johann Kuhnau, and has the Luther Bible translation of Isaiah 57:1–2 as text. The arrangement of the Latin motet, that is, transposing it to E minor, adjusting its music to the new text, and expanding it with an instrumental score for two traversos, two oboes, strings and basso continuo, is attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. The setting is found in a manuscript copy, likely written down in the 1750s, of Wer ist der, so von Edom kömmt, a Passion oratorio which is a pasticcio based on compositions by, among others, Carl Heinrich Graun, Georg Philipp Telemann and Bach. Likely Der Gerechte kömmt um existed as a stand-alone motet, for example for performance on Good Friday or at a funeral, before being adopted in the pasticcio.

The Spontis or Sponti movement was a left-wing movement in West Germany in 1970s-1980s. The name is an abbreviation for the word "spontaneous", in reference to their preference of "revolutionary spontaneity of the masses" over theoretically- and party-based movements. A significant force of this movement were university students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Haack</span> German geographer and cartographer

Hermann Otto Haack was a German geographer and cartographer.

<i>Sapiens dominabitur astris</i>

Sapiens dominabitur astris is a Latin maxim initially used in astrology, theology, philosophy and literature from the late 13th to late 17th centuries. The phrase has been traditionally attributed to Greco-Roman scientist Ptolemy, but modern scholarship views it as a compilation from two later sources. Presently, the phrase is featured on the emblem of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine.

References

  1. Dario Fo (June 13, 2004). "Knowledge like challenge to every form of powers". repubblica.it (in Italian).
  2. Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Liber Proverbiorum
  3. Holy Bible, King James Version, Proverbs 24:5
  4. Thomas Hobbes, Opera philosophica..., Volume III (Leviathan [1668]), p. 69
  5. Thomas Hobbes, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury..., Volume 3 (Leviathan), p. 75.
  6. Thomas Hobbes De Corpore, Part I, Chapter I (On Phylosophy). In Thomas Hobbes, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury..., Volume I, p. 7. From the Latin edition: Thomas Hobbes, Opera philosophica..., Volume 1, p. 6
  7. "Thomas Hobbes Quotes - 14 Science Quotes - Dictionary of Science Quotations and Scientist Quotes". Todayinsci.com. 2012-01-19. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
  8. Vickers, Brian (1992). "Francis Bacon and the Progress of Knowledge". Journal of the History of Ideas. 53 (3): 495–518. doi:10.2307/2709891. JSTOR   2709891.
  9. Francis Bacon, Novum Organum , Part I, Aphorism III. Boston: Taggard & Thompson, 1863, volume VIII, pp. 67–68.
  10. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude, 1892, p. 303
  11. ALEXANDER U. MARTENS (24 June 1997). "Geographie als Weltmacht Klett und Perthes werben für ein "Museum der Erde" in Gotha". Die Welt. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  12. Brogiato, Heinz Peter. ""Wissen ist Macht - Geographisches Wissen ist Weltmacht". Die schulgeographischen Zeitschriften im deutschsprachigen Raum (1880-1945) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Geographischen Anzeigers. Teil 1: Textband: 656 S., Teil 2: Registerband: 474 S. Trier 1998 (Materialien zur Didaktik der Geographie, Heft 18). Review by Hans Böhm, Erdkunde, 54. Jahrgang, 2000, Heft 4, S. 382-384" (in German). Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014. D. h. die Einrichtung geographischer Lehrstühle entsprach zwischen 1871 und 1874 dem Wunsch von Hochschulen und Fakultäten und erfolgte nicht aufgrund eines "politischen Octroi".

Bibliography

Further reading