Abstract
The expression docta ignorantia (“learned ignorance”) refers to a gnosiological doctrine by Nicholas of Cusa emphasizing human structural inability to know the truth. Cusanus states that human mind is characterized by the fact that it builds relationships between the things, moves itself belonging to quantity and quality and between things opposed to each other. But truth has neither quality nor quantity, and it is the infinite coincidence of the opposites. So, mind because of its finitude is inadequate for knowing the truth. The learned ignorance doctrine stems from Nicholas of Cusa’s reworking of Dionysius’ Mystical Theology. It has been conceived in contrast to scholastic gnosiology and rests on the claim that there can be no correspondence between intellect and things. In the sixteenth century, this doctrine becomes widespread especially in France.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Primary Literature
Bovillus, Carolus. 1510a. Liber de Sapiente, 1927. In Individuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance, ed. Ernst Cassirer and Raymond Klibansky, 299–412. Leipzig: Teubner.
Bovillus, Carolus. 1510b. Liber de nihilo, 1983. In Le Livre du Néant, ed. Pierre Magnard. Paris: Vrin.
Cusanus, Nicolaus. 1440. De docta ignorantia, 1932. In Nicolai de Cusa Opera omnia iussu et auctoritate academiae litterarum Heidelbergensis ad codicum fidem edita, In aedibus Felicis Meiner I, ed. Ernst Hoffmann and Raymond Klibansky. Lipsia: Meiner Verlag.
d’Étaples Jacques, Lefèvre. 1527. Textus de Sphera Johannis de Sacrobosco. Paris: Henri Estienne.
Montaigne, Michel. 1580. Apologie de Raymond Sebond, 1937. In L’Apologie de Raymond Sebond, ed. Paul Porteaux. Paris: Éditions F. Aubier.
Rhenanus, Beatus. 1505. Exigua pluuia, 1998. In Nicolas de Cues et Charles de Bovelles dans le manuscrit “Exigua pluvia” de Beatus Rhenanus, Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Age, ed. Emmanuel Faye, vol. 65, 415–450. (422–427).
Santinello, Giovanni. 1969. Studi sull’umanesimo europeo. Cusano e Petrarca. Lefévre, Erasmo, Colet, Moro. Padova: Antenore
Secondary Literature
Albertini, Tamara. 1993. Die geometrische Darstellung der vollkommenen Erkenntnis in der Philosophie von Charles de Bovelles. In Verum et factum: Beiträge zur Geistesgeschichte und Philosophie zum 60. Geburtstag von Stephan Otto, ed. Tamara Albertini, 421–436. Bern: Peter Lang.
Albertini, Tamara. 2000. Actio und Passio in der renaissance. Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 47: 126–149.
Albertson, David. 2014. Mathematical theologies: Nicholas of Cusa and the legacy of Thierry of Chartres. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Avis, Paul. 2016. Foundations of modern historical thought: From Machiavelli to Vico. London: Routledge.
Blumenberg, Hans. 1966. Aspekte der Epochenschwelle: Cusaner und Nolaner. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Bocken, Inigo. 2002. Friede und Schöpfungskraft: Cusanus, Montaigne und die Philosophie der Renaissance. In Nicholas of Cusa: A medieval thinker for the modern age, ed. Kazuhiko Yamaki, 60–76. Waseda: Curzon Press.
Bocken, Inigo. 2004. De kunst van het verzamelen: Historisch-ethische inleiding in de conjecturele hermeneutiek van Nicolaus Cusanus. Budel: Damon.
Cassirer, Ernst. 1927. Individuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance. Leipzig: Teubner.
Duclow, Donald. 2006. Masters of learned ignorance: Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Duhem, Pierre. 1917. Le système du monde: histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic. Paris: Hermann.
Emery, Kent, Jr. 1984. Mysticism and the coincidence of opposites in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France. Journal of the History of Ideas 45 (1): 3–23.
Faye, Emmanuel. 1998. Nicolas de Cues et Charles de Bovelles dans le manuscrit “Exigua pluvia” de Beatus Rhenanus. Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire du Moyen Age 65: 415–450.
Flasch, Kurt. 1980. Nikolaus von Kues und Pico della Mirandola. Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft 14: 113–120.
Flasch, Kurt. 1998. Nikolaus von Kues. Geschichte einer Entwicklung. Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.
Gelder, Enno H.A. 1961. The two reformations in the 16th century. A study of the religious aspects and consequences of renaissance and humanism. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Haubst, Rudolf. 1992. Das neue in De docta ignorantia. Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft 20: 27–53.
Meier-Oeser, Stephan. 1989. Die Präsenz des Vergessenen. Zur Rezeption der Philosophie des Nicolaus Cusanus vom 15. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert. Münster: Aschendorff Verlag.
Schnarr, Hermann. 2009. “Docta ignorantia” als augustinische Denkfigur bei Nikolaus von Kues (1401–1464). In Augustinus – Spuren und Spiegelungen seines Denkens, ed. I. Norbert Fischer, 195–210. Hamburg: Meiner Verlag.
Secchi, Pietro. 2006. Bovelles lettore di Cusano: Umanesimo e Apofatismo. Bruniana & Campanelliana 12 (2): 583–589.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fiamma, A. (2019). Docta Ignorantia. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1001-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1001-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities