Non serviam

In literature, the Latin phrase non serviam was spoken by Satan as he refused to serve God. It translates into "I will not serve."

It is attributed to Satan in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, but the origin of this attribution is unknown. It might have originated in one of Friedrich Nietzsche's works, quoting an older source, but this is unconfirmed. A version of St. Jerome's Vulgate does contain the phrase "non serviam" in Jeremiah 2:20, but God is scolding Israel, not Satan. This places the phrase as originating in 382 AD or later.

Non serviam

An electronic journal dedicated to the work of the German philosopher, Max Stirner. "Non Serviam!" "I will not serve," is known from literature as Satan's declaration of rebellion against God. The journal attempts to follow up on this tradition of insurrection in philosophical analysis.


 * http://www.nonserviam.com/


 * http://www.nonserviam.com/magazine/

Stanislaw Lem - A Perfect Vacuum, Non-Serviam 1971

''(Personetics): A “world�? for personoid “inhabitants�? can be prepared in a couple of hours... A specific personoid activity serves as a triggering mechanism, setting in motion a production process that will gradually augment and define itself; in other words, the world surrounding these beings takes on an unequivocalness only in accordance with their own behavior... From four to seven personoids are optimal, at least for the development of speech and typical exploratory activity, and also for 'culturization’... It is possible to 'accommodate' up to one thousand personoids... Many different philosophies (ontologies and epistemologies) have arisen among them... I can enlarge their world or reduce it, speed up its time or slow it down, alter the mode and means of their perception; I can liquidate them, divide them, multiply them, transform the very ontological foundation of their existence...''

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/geog/gessler/topics/lem.htm