Synderesis their opposites as evils to be avoided. Synderesis is the capacity not only to apprehend the first principles, but also to judge every step of the practical discourse in the light of those principles. But, as an intellectual disposition concerned with knowledge of the first principles of action, synderesis provides only the universal premise of the practical syllogism. Every human "action", however, is singular, contingent and takes place in particular circumstances. To complete the practical discourse and reach a conclusion regarding what has to be done "hic et nunc" [here and now] and what means are to be used, other
Ignoramus et ignorabimus Ignoramus et ignorabimus The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning "we do not know and will not know", represents the idea that scientific knowledge is limited. It was publicized, in this sense, by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his publication "Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens" ("On the limits of our understanding of nature") of 1872. Emil du Bois-Reymond used the phrase "ignoramus et ignorabimus" while discussing what he termed seven "world riddles", in a famous 1880 speech before the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He defined seven "world riddles", of which three, he declared, neither science nor philosophy could