nescience means the absence of knowledge, especially of orthodox beliefs.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, nescience ranks #3,530 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,180 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #11,727 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
nescience is pronounced /ˈnɛsɪəns/.
Why “nescience” is a great word
Nescience is the absence or lack of knowledge, particularly concerning fundamental or accepted truths. From Latin nescientia, from nesciens (present participle of nescire), from ne- ("not") + scire ("to know"), first attested in English in the 1610s. Unlike "ignorance," which often implies a culpable neglect, or "agnosticism," which denotes a deliberate philosophical stance, nescience is a purer, more neutral void. It is the quiet of a mind before the first question, the blank page before any doctrine, the unlit corridor in a house one has never entered—the fertile, unjudged ground from which all understanding must begin.
Etymology
From Latin nescientia, from the present participle of nescire.
noun
- The absence of knowledge, especially of orthodox beliefs.“Better to have honest nescience than to have militant ignorance.”
- The doctrine that nothing is actually knowable.“The theory of nescience is but the obverse of the fact of science.”
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