The Borderline between Gnosis and its Homogeneous Sciences

Gnosis is a familiar term which is frequently used in oral and written culture and has a wide range of meanings. This has resulted in some ambiguity in its various applications, particularly, in its recent usage including “pseudo-gnosis” and “newly developed schools of gnosis”, as well as in discussions such as “the relationship between religion and gnosis”, “the relationship between the intellect and gnosis”, and “the relationship between philosophy and gnosis”. This paper is intended to determine the approximate borderline between gnosis (the science of theoretical gnosis) and philosophy as well as the difference between gnosis (the science of practical gnosis) and ethics through clarifying the meaning and concept of gnosis, distinguishing between practical and theoretical types of wisdom, and explaining the differences between them and the sciences of practical and theoretical types of gnosis.