"Do not they bring it to pass by knowing that they know nothing at all?"
About this Quote
Racine’s line is a trapdoor: it drops the confident mind straight into free fall. “Do not they bring it to pass” sounds almost legalistic, like a prosecutor building a case, but the charge is philosophical and social rather than criminal. The question isn’t whether ignorance exists; it’s whether people actively manufacture outcomes through a particular kind of ignorance: the kind that knows it’s ignorant.
That twist matters. In the ordinary moral economy, self-awareness is supposed to redeem failure. Racine suggests the opposite. Admitting you “know nothing at all” can become a technique, even a posture, that clears you of responsibility while still letting you steer events. In a court, a church, or a palace (the ecosystems Racine anatomized), strategic humility is power. If you claim not to know, you can’t be blamed for what you enable. You can watch the catastrophe assemble itself and still appear innocent, even virtuous.
The line’s grammar does extra work. “Do not they…” has the chill of distance: not “we,” not “you,” but “they,” the people in the room who are politely absolving themselves. And “bring it to pass” implies process, not accident. This is ignorance as an instrument, not a gap.
In Racine’s tragic universe, characters are rarely undone by simple lack of information. They’re undone by the bargains they make with themselves: choosing blindness, advertising it as wisdom, and discovering too late that the pose doesn’t protect anyone from consequences.
That twist matters. In the ordinary moral economy, self-awareness is supposed to redeem failure. Racine suggests the opposite. Admitting you “know nothing at all” can become a technique, even a posture, that clears you of responsibility while still letting you steer events. In a court, a church, or a palace (the ecosystems Racine anatomized), strategic humility is power. If you claim not to know, you can’t be blamed for what you enable. You can watch the catastrophe assemble itself and still appear innocent, even virtuous.
The line’s grammar does extra work. “Do not they…” has the chill of distance: not “we,” not “you,” but “they,” the people in the room who are politely absolving themselves. And “bring it to pass” implies process, not accident. This is ignorance as an instrument, not a gap.
In Racine’s tragic universe, characters are rarely undone by simple lack of information. They’re undone by the bargains they make with themselves: choosing blindness, advertising it as wisdom, and discovering too late that the pose doesn’t protect anyone from consequences.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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