The Daily Omnivore

The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning ‘we do not know and will not know,’ stood for a position on the limits of scientific knowledge, in the thought of the nineteenth century. It was given credibility by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his book ‘On the limits of our understanding of nature,’ published in 1872.

In 1930, mathematician David Hilbert pronounced his disagreement with the maxim in a celebrated address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians: ‘We must not believe those, who today, with philosophical bearing and deliberative tone, prophesy the fall of culture and accept the ignorabimus. For us there is no ignorabimus, and in my opinion none whatever in natural science. In opposition to the foolish ignorabimus our slogan shall be: Wir müssen wissen — wir werden wissen! (‘We must know — we will know!’).’

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Sapere [sap-er-reh] aude [ow-day] is a Latin phrase meaning ‘dare to be wise,’ or more precisely ‘dare to know.’ Originally used by Horace, it is a common motto for universities and other institutions, after becoming closely associated with The Enlightenment by Immanuel Kant in his seminal essay, ‘What is Enlightenment?’

Kant claimed it was the motto for the entire period, and used it to explore his theories of reason in the public sphere. Later, Michel Foucault took up Kant’s formulation in an attempt for a place for the individual in his post-structuralist philosophy and come to terms with the problematic legacy of the Enlightenment.

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