nescience

nescience

English

Etymology

From Latin nescientia, from the present participle of nescire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛsɪəns/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɛʃəns/

Noun

nescience (countable and uncountable, plural nesciences)

1. The absence of knowledge, especially of orthodox beliefs.

   Better to have honest nescience than to have militant ignorance.

   • 1911, Ralph Barton Perry, "Notes on the Philosophy of Henri Bergson," The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, vol. 8, no. 26, p. 720,

     To lapse from knowledge into nescience is always possible—there is no law of God or man forbidding it.

   • 1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae:

     Algernon, in a condition of masculine nescience, lets himself become engaged to a woman of whom he knows nothing.

2. (philosophy) The doctrine that nothing is actually knowable.
   • 1895, J. G. Schurman, "Agnosticism," The Philosophical Review, vol. 4, no. 3, p. 244,

     The theory of nescience is but the obverse of the fact of science.

Related terms

• nescient

Translations

The absence of knowledge

Bulgarian: неведение (bg) (nevedenie)

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “nescience”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɛ.sjɑ̃s/, /ne.sjɑ̃s/

Noun

nescience f (plural nesciences)

1. nescience

Further reading

• “nescience”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.