The ignorabimus, short for the Latin tag ignoramus et ignorabimus meaning 'we do not know and will not know', stood for a pessimistic (in one sense) position on the limits on scientific knowledge, in the thought of the nineteenth century. It was given currency by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens of 1872. It generated continuing debate. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The scope of this article is limited to the empirical sciences. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Emil du Bois-Reymond. ... Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. ... 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

Contrary to this presumption, David Hilbert pronounced: David Hilbert (January 23, 1862, Königsberg, East Prussia – February 14, 1943, Göttingen, Germany) was a German mathematician, recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

Für den Mathematiker gibt es kein Ignorabimus, und meiner Meinung nach auch für die Naturwissenschaft überhaupt nicht. ... Der wahre Grund, warum es nicht gelang, ein unlösbares Problem zu finden, besteht meiner Meinung nach darin, daß es unlösbare Probleme überhaupt nicht gibt. Statt des törichten Ignoramibus heiße im Gegenteil unsere Losung:
Wir müssen wissen
wir werden wissen."

― David Hilbert, Den Text des Vortrages ist in Die Naturwissenschaften, 28 November 1930, S.959-963 veröffentlicht.

For the mathematician there is no Ignorabimus, and, in my opinion, not at all for natural science either. ... The true reason why [no one] has succeeded in finding an unsolvable problem is, in my opinion, that there is no unsolvable problem. In contrast to the foolish Ignoramibus, our credo avers:
We must know,
We shall know."

― David Hilbert, Königsberg, September 1930, spoken in opening address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians

It still had resonance at the time of a celebrated radio broadcast, in 1930, by David Hilbert, declaring that the ignorabimus could be banished from mathematics. David Hilbert (January 23, 1862, Königsberg, East Prussia – February 14, 1943, Göttingen, Germany) was a German mathematician, recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ...

The sociologist Wolf Lepenies has discussed the ignorabimus in the context that du Bois-Reymond was not really pulling back so far, in his claims for science and its reach: Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and societies. ... Wolf Lepenies (Born January 11, 1941 in Allenstein, East Prussia, now Olsztyn, Poland) is a German sociologist, political scientist, and author. ...

it is in fact an incredibly self-confident support for scientific hubris masked as modesty (Between Literature and Science: the Rise of Sociology, p.272).

This is in discussion of Friedrich Wolters, one of the Stefan George circle (and indeed therefore in the direction that Hilbert was aiming). Lepenies comments that Wolters misunderstood, therefore, the actual degree of pessimism being expressed about science; but well understood the implication that scientists themselves could be trusted with self-criticism. Hubris or hybris (Greek ), according to its modern usage, is exaggerated self pride or self-confidence, often resulting in fatal retribution. ... Stefan George (1910) Stefan George (Bingen, Hesse, July 12, 1868 – Locarno, December 4, 1933) was a German poet and translator. ...

See also strong agnosticism. Strong agnosticism or positive agnosticism is the belief that it is impossible for humans to know whether or not any God or gods exist. ...

External links

• The Ignorabimusstreit (German language)
• David Hilbert's 1930 radio address and English translation.