Sir Francis Bacon stated scientia potentia est in Latin, which literally translates into”For also knowledge itself is power”, which later came to read: “Knowledge is Power”. I must have heard this expression a million times – I have to admit that it used to make perfect sense before, but as i grew more “knowledgeable”, that same expression started making less and less of it (sense).
Let’s start off by looking at the definitions of both knowledge and power.
knowledge is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject …
the philosophical definition of Power (or in this case Social Power) is the ability to control one’s environment or other entities.
Sounds simple, right? OK, but let’s take this one step further and alternate the definition of power to include sources of power like air, water, fuel, solar, etc … How does this change the perception of the aforementioned expression “Knowledge is Power”? I believe that “Knowledge is a source of power” is the deduced statement.
Logically speaking, fuel, air, etc … will remain to be sources of power if not used – so for the sake argument, these elements alone don’t provide power – the same logic can be applied to knowledge.
In Francis Bacon’s era between 1500s and 1600s, information was scarce and that statement made sense – pure economic laws of supply and demand. However, we live in the digital information age, the age of the internet, the age of social media, the age of crowdsourcing … information is readily available for everyone who seeks it. If knowledge instantly translated into power, that means we are all superheroes (great and powerful). But we all know this is not the case … so what is the missing link? what is that missing step that transforms knowledge into power? ACTION!
It’s what you do with this acquired knowledge that defines your power. If you don’t convert that knowledge into action, it will remain a source of power – untapped power. It is worth noting at this point that the excuse of lack of knowledge is no longer justified; we can all tap into that same power pool!
So with all due respect to Sir Francis Bacon, the new maxim should read “Knowledge plus Action is Power”
The question you should be asking yourself is “how am I using my knowledge to gain power?” Think About It!
Good point. You could be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if you are just a guru in the mountains, all your knowledge of enlightenment builds up to absolutely nada.
In order to be truly powerful, it isn’t enough to have an army, you have to be willing to use it, too. A military analogy, but I think it fits.
Great article!
since when do you resort to such violent analogies Kate? 🙂 I was more than satisfied with the guru in the mountains – he seemed like a peaceful guy. Kidding aside, knowledge is what you make of it and that eventually leads to power! thanks Kate
Great Post John. Knowledge alone does not guaranteePower. As you rightly said, Action on the same is important. Execution of the knowledge in the right direction is important.
Knowledge + Action (Execution) = Power 🙂
I like that Kunjal – Execution of Knowledge … perfect interpretation. thank you!
I think both Knowledge and Power are overrated. My equation would read: Action = Knowledge and (occasionally) power. Great discussion topic as usual John 🙂
Well Mich, I’m sure you know that my interpretation of power in this post is the ability to make a difference – so i’m definitely not referring to the root of all evil kind of power – the all mighty ego trip! The latter kind of power is brought on by money, fear, etc … and it has nothing to do with action, or the transformation of knowledge into physical evidence.
thanks for sharing your thought as usual 🙂
Well, John, I’m afraid you’re quite simply wrong!
Bacon used the formulation scientia potestas est twice, once in the meditationes sacrae (1598 from memory) and again in Novum organum (1620). Both times the phrase is part of a longer sentence.
I haven’t got the texts to hand (they’re at home), but in Novum organum the sentence translates as something like ‘in human affairs knowledge and power come to the same thing’, while in the meditationes sacrae (sacred meditations) he writes of how for God, knowledge and power are the same, because for God to know something is for it to be. It was in the context of a discussion of God’s foreknowledge and whether God knows everything because he does, or because he invokes it.
More interesting perhaps was his suggestion that we cannot hope to dominate nature except by obeying her …
I’ll happily give you chapter and verse later if you wish … but rest assured you’re not the first to mistranslate this particular aphorism, and that’s simply because presumably weren’t aware of the context.
Bacon did pretty much believe that knowledge was effectively power, however, inasmuch as he believed that if we knew how things worked (knowledge) we could make them change at will (power).
But power is, effectively, potential. It doesn’t need to be expressed to be there. Bacon was a canny boy.
Pete
Pete I’d like to start off by saying thank you for setting Francis Bacon’s aphorism in the proper context – and I hope you can send me the chapter so I can also learn further!
Having said that, I would to clarify that my “attack” was not towards the intended meaning of the Bacon’s maxim but what today’s world perceive it to be – i’m sure you agree that when used in layman conversation, people are certainly not referring to God’s foreknowledge!
In your closing statement, you said “power is, effectively, potential. It doesn’t need to be expressed to be there” – this my dear Pete is exactly what i’m talking about – being wise and all-knowing and doing nothing with that wisdom is power gone to waste!
We need less SAYERS (KNOW-ERS) and more DOERS!
John, no worries. I’ll dig it out when I get home.
And yes, I saw that it wasn’t an attack on Bacon per se.
I don’t think power unused is going to waste – after all, as Milton said, ‘They also serve who only stand and wait’. Power misused is the worst expression of power. It ought only be used when necessary.
Fewer sayers and more doers – you really ought to read more Bacon! You’d get on with him, I suspect. But yes, you’re right there, but sometimes knowing is doing, when one passes on knowledge, you empower people … it is incumbent on the teacher to try to ensure that this doesn’t result in a vulgar display of power.
Pete
empowerment is an action 🙂 I taught marketing to a graduating class back in Beirut, and it was all about empowering them with tools (knowledge). This is a perfect example of our the equation presented in my initial post – certainly the power attained is not in reference to the “dark side” – but more a philosophical approach to the ability to induce change – and in my world, i’m certainly talking about POSITIVE change!
once again Pete – thanks for such enriching comments!
As long as we are refining old maxims and in the interest of avoiding Action Bias, I would say, “Knowledge driven Action is Power”
-rags
Hey Rags, i love how your tweaked that – it sounds perfect “Knowledge driven Action is Power” – thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hi John,
Sorry to be tardy … here are three quotations you might appreciate:
Meditationes sacrae (1598)
‘The third degree [of heresies which deny the power of God] is of those who limit and restrain the former opinion to human actions only, which partake of sin: which actions they suppose to depend substantively and without any chain of causes upon the inward will and choice of man; and who give a wider range to the knowledge of God than to his power; or rather that part of God’s power (for knowledge itself is power) whereby he knows, than to that whereby he works and acts; suffering him to foreknow things as an unconcerned looker on, which he does not predestine and preordain;’ (Works VII, p. 253 – this ref. will be different in USA).
Novum organum (1620)
‘Human knowledge and power come to the same thing, for ignorance of the cause puts the effect beyond reach. For nature is not conquered save by obeying it; and that which in thought is equivalent to a cause, is in operation equivalent to a rule.’ (Novum organum, 1620, Bk I, aph. 3, OFB XI, p. 65).
‘The work and aim of human power is to generate and superinduce a new nature or new natures on a given body. The work and aim of human knowledge is to discover (and the following are the terms which I possess that come closest to what I mean) the form, or true difference, or natura naturans, or source from which a given nature arises.’ (Novum organum, 1620, Bk II, aph. i, OFB XI, p. 201).
Hope that’s useful!
Pete
Hey Pete,
thanks for sharing the origins of that infamous “yet misinterpreted” maxim with the us – we can all learn form that.
Hope to see you in future discussions!
Hey John,
At first I was thinking this is all semantics and there was not much substance to what you were saying; rather just playing around with words. But then you came full circle, and made some sense. 🙂
I think you can still say “knowledge is power”, even though technically you’re saying it’s just a source, something from which we can derive such power. On the topic of superheroes, they can be the most powerful beings in the universe, but not use the power. The most knowledgeable person in the world could be considered to have a lot of power regardless of using their knowledge or not. This is where I thought it was all just wordplay.
Nevertheless, you are correct. The knowledge we absorb is essentially just a trigger for power, a means to an end.
Sorry if I repeated what anyone said, in all honesty I did not read all the comments before I replied. My apologies!
Well as you said Bryan, we can all possess the power – but “unused power” is equivalent to “no power” if you think of the generated results of both and that is NOTHING!
thats a very great point dude.