De Docta Ignorantia
De docta ignorantia (
Earlier scholars had discussed the question of "learned ignorance". Augustine of Hippo, for instance, stated "Est ergo in nobis quaedam, ut dicam, docta ignorantia, sed docta spiritu dei, qui adiuvat infirmitatem nostram"[1] ["There is therefore in us a certain learned ignorance, so to speak — an ignorance which we learn from that Spirit of God who helps our infirmities"]; here he explains the working of the Holy Spirit among men and women, despite their human insufficiency, as a learned ignorance. The Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite advises his reader to ἀγνώστως ἀνατάθητι, to "strive upwards unknowingly".[2] Bonaventura of Bagnoregio declared "spiritus noster non-solum efficitur agilis ad ascensum verum etiam quadam ignorantia docta supra se ipsum rapitur in caliginem et excessum"[3] ["we are lifted into divine knowing without directly striving for it"].
For Cusanus, docta ignorantia means that since mankind can not grasp the
References
External links
- On Learned Ignorance and other works by Nicolas de Cusa — Full text in English
- On Learned Ignorance, Book 1 (1985)
- On Learned Ignorance, Book 2 (1985)
- On Learned Ignorance, Book 3 (1985)