epistemophilia
Meanings
noun
- An excessive love of, or striving for, knowledge.
- As used by psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, epistemophilia—or, as she framed it, the "epistemophilic instinct"—is the wish to know, and is rooted in libido. Such instinct results from Oedipal conflicts in the child psyche.
Word forms
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἐπιστήμη (epistḗmē, “knowledge”) + φίλια (phília, “love”).
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