Scientia_potentia_est

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Francis Bacon

The famous phrase scientia potentia est is a Latin maxim "For also knowledge itself is power" stated originally by Sir Francis Bacon in Meditationes Sacrae (1597), which in modern times is often paraphrased as "knowledge is power." The phrase implies that with knowledge or education one\'s potential or abilities in life will probably increase. It is also used as a justification for a reluctance to share information as some form of advantage can be gained through the use or manipulation of knowledge. It is possible that Bacon was paraphrasing Proverbs 24:5: "A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength."

In a study of how power influences knowledge, the author found that even if Bacon\'s dictum that knowledge is power is true it is also an oversimplification (Flyvbjerg 1998). The opposite is often more true, that power is knowledge, in the sense that power decides which knowledge is produced in a given social setting and gets to count as knowledge in discourse and decision making.

Also quoted humorously by Lister in the Red Dwarf books and TV show, "Knowledge is power. Who said that?", to which neither he nor Rimmer knows the answer.

Used by Terry Pratchett in his Discworld novels as the basis of the mathematical explanation for L-Space, the dimensional stretching created by large quantities of books.

See also

• Cognitive elite
• Intelligence (information gathering)
• Information warfare
• Information Awareness Office

Sources and further reading

• Flyvbjerg, Bent. Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. [1]
• Flyvbjerg, Bent. "What is Rationality? What is Power?" [2]
• Haas, Ernst B. When Knowledge is Power: Three Models of Change in International Organizations. University of California, 1990. ISBN 0-520-06646-4.
• Higdon, Lee. "Knowledge is power." University Business, September 2005.
  • Higdon argues that because the U.S. economy is a knowledge economy the decline in enrollment of non-U.S. students in U.S. universities "has serious long-term implications for the United States." [3]
• "Knowledge is power (But only if you know how to acquire it)." The Economist, May 8, 2003. [4]
  • A report on corporate knowledge management.
• Peterson, Ryan. "Michel Foucault: Power/Knowledge." Colorado State University Resource Centre for Communications Studies. [5]
  • An exploration of what Peterson terms Foucault\'s "new model of the relations of power and knowledge" that contradicts Bacon.
• Powers, Rod. "Knowledge is power in the military." U.S. Military: The Orderly Room. [6]
  • An anecdotal argument that in the military, a person with the most rank is not always the one in charge of a given situation, but that the person with the "real power" is the person who knows the regulations.
• Trump, Donald J. "Use Knowledge to Your Advantage." Trump University. [7]
  • Trump argues that knowledge is one of the secrets to success.

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