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”, in The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, volume 8, number 26, page 720:

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

   • 1935, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Wordsworth Editions, published 1997, →ISBN, page 579:

     Many a day we had been twenty-two out of the twenty-four hours in the saddle, each taking it in turn to lead through the darkness while the others let their heads nod forward over the pommel in nescience.

   • 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”, in The Philosophical Review, volume 4, number 3, page 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 (2001–2024) “nescience”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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.