pansophy
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- pansophic adjective
- pansophical adjective
- pansophically adverb
Etymology
Origin of pansophy
Explanation
Pansophy is a concept that means "universal knowledge" or "all-encompassing wisdom." It usually refers to a hypothetical educational philosophy that aims to teach everything that is knowable. The word pansophy comes from the Greek roots pan-, meaning "all," and sophia, meaning "wisdom." The term was popularized by the 17th-century Czech philosopher and educator John Amos Comenius, who sought to create a unified system of organizing and presenting all human knowledge. Comenius believed that all fields of knowledge — science, spirituality, philosophy, etc. — could be united into a coherent pansophy, ultimately achieving universal peace and harmony. In essence, the pursuit of pansophy is the quest for a complete and integrated understanding of everything.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Next in importance to pansophy or encyclopædism, and closely connected with it, is the principle that a knowledge of words and of things should go hand in hand.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11 by Johnson, Rossiter
German philosophers made ready to seize upon it with huge mental biceps and labor to incorporate it beneficently into the Teuton pansophy.
From Villa Elsa A Story of German Family Life by Henry, Stuart Oliver
Philosophy she lacked, but theosophy, which is a pansophy, she possessed—when she did not need it.
From The Paliser case by Saltus, Edgar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
