Scientia potentia est

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Information Awareness Office seal with its motto scientia est potentia

The phrase "scientia potentia est" (or "scientia est potentia"[p] or also "scientia potestas est") is a Latin aphorism often claimed to mean organized "knowledge is power". It is commonly attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, although there is no known occurrence of this precise phrase in Bacon's English or Latin writings. However, the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ('knowledge itself is power') occurs in Bacon's Meditationes Sacrae (1597). The exact phrase "scientia potentia est" was written for the first time in the 1668 version of the work Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, who was secretary to Bacon as a young man.



Origins and parallels[edit]

A proverb in practically the same wording is first 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 et fortis est et vir doctus robustus et validus"[1] and in the King James Version, the first English official edition, as "A wise man is strong, a man of knowledge increaseth strength".[2]

A later account of the concept is found in the Shahnameh by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1020 CE) who wrote: "Capable is he who is wise" (in Persian: توانا بود هر که دانا بود).[3] This hemistich is translated to English as "knowledge is power" or "One who has wisdom is powerful".[4]

Thomas Hobbes[edit]



In the English version this passage reads as thus:





Francis Bacon[edit]


The closest expression in Bacon's works is, perhaps, the expression "scientia potestas est", found in his Meditationes Sacrae (1597), which is perhaps better translated as "knowledge is His power", because the context of the sentence refers to the qualities of God and is imbedded in a discussion of heresies that deny the power of God: Dei quam potestatis; vel putius ejus partis potestatis Dei, (nam et ipsa scientia potestas est) qua scit, quam ejus qua raovet et agit; ut praesciat quaedam otoise, quae non praedestinet et praordinet.

The English translation of this section includes the following:


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.[9] Indeed, the quotation has become a cliche.


Ralph Waldo Emerson[edit]



Wissen ist Macht in Germany[edit]

After the first German reunification 1871, "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.[12] However, the installation of geographical research followed popular requests and was not an "political octroi" of the government.[13] 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 the 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 muich more cautious, concepts of political geography and projection of power have not been widerspread schorlarly topics till 1989 in Germany.

Geographical knowledge is however still of importance in Germany. Germans tend to mock about US politians 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 doesnt bother anyway." Joschka Fischer und Daniel Cohn-Bendit belong to those Spontis that nevertheless held powerful positions, in Fischers case with not more formal education than a taxi drivers licence.

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



In popular culture[edit]

The Mortal Kombat video game franchise popularised Emerson's version: "There is no knowledge that is not power."

Episode 5 of season 2 (aired on 17 May 2014 in the U.S.) of the BBC America television series Orphan Black is titled Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est.

See also[edit]


[p] ^ The phrase "scientia est potentia" is pronounced as skee-En-tee-ah est paw-Ten-tee-ah.[14]


  1. ^ Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Proverbia
  2. ^ Holy Bible, King James Version, Proverbs 24:5
  3. ^ Shahnameh, first poem, couplet 14. e.f.
  4. ^ "The Modern Magazine for Persian Weddings, Cuisine, Culture & Community". Retrieved 2012-09-20. 
  9. ^ Vickers, Brian (1992). "Francis Bacon and the Progress of Knowledge". Journal of the History of Ideas, 53 (3): 495–518. JSTOR 2709891. 
  11. ^ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude, 1892, p. 303
  12. ^ ALEXANDER U. MARTENS (24.06.97). "Geographie als Weltmacht Klett und Perthes werben für ein "Museum der Erde" in Gotha". Die Welt. Retrieved 29 August 2014.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Eugene Ehrlich (1993). AMO AMAS AMAT & More. p. 255. Retrieved 2013-06-03.



Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]