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About the Name

The word gnosis is typically associated with secret, divine, or esoteric knowledge. The Greek word gnosis, which is probably where Latin and English acquired it, has many different connotations by now, but the one we hold dear was probably best expressed by Plato.

According to Plato, there are two kinds of knowledge (epistêmê): one that is gained through reason (dianoia) or rationality, and one that is only available from experience (gnosis). In other words, gnosis is the knowledge that requires transcendence of the purely rational.

This root word has pervaded English words for knowledge, probably through its Latin forms (gnoscere, cognoscere, cognitio). Etymologists have found that the underlying root, gno, is indeed older than the Greek form; it can be found in the Sanskrit jna, the Russian znát, the Proto-Germanic knoëanan, and the Old Persian xšnasatiy.

Back in reality, we needed a name that people would somehow associate with knowledge or cognition, so with respect to this apparently global concept of gno, we chose "Cognocys" (pronounced, "Cog-know-sys").