De docta ignorantia (llatí original)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Some scanning errors (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand) · 5 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~53,500 words · 254 passages
Cite this work
- APANicholas of Cusa. (n.d.). De docta ignorantia (llatí original). Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/de-docta-ignorantia-llati-original
- MLANicholas of Cusa. De docta ignorantia (llatí original). Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/de-docta-ignorantia-llati-original.
- ChicagoNicholas of Cusa. De docta ignorantia (llatí original). Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/nicholas-of-cusa/de-docta-ignorantia-llati-original.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
On Learned Ignorance (1440): knowing that one does not know is the highest form of knowing.
Context and history
Cusanus argues that God is the coincidence of opposites and that the universe has neither centre nor circumference — a century before Copernicus and without a telescope. The idea came to him, he says, on the ship home from Constantinople. Text in LATIN: Cusanus's original, and the version to cite.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
________________________________________________________________ Deo amabili reverendissimo patri domino Iuliano sanctae Apostolicae Sedis dignissimo cardinali, praeceptori suo metuendo Admirabitur et recte maximum tuum et iam probatissimum ingenium, quid sibi hoc velit, quod, dum meas barbaras ineptias incautius pandere attempto, te arbitrum eligo, quasi tibi pro tuo cardinalatus officio apud Apostolicam Sedem in publicis maximis negotiis occupatissimo aliquid otii supersit et post omnium Latinorum scriptorum, qui hactenus claruerunt, supremam notitiam et nunc Graecorum etiam ad meum istum fortassis ineptissimum conceptum tituli novitate trahi possis, qui tibi, qualis ingenio sim, iam dudum notissimus existo. Sed haec admiratio, non quod prius incognitum hic insertum putes, sed potius qua audacia ad de docta ignorantia tractandum ductus sim, animum tuum sciendi peravidum spero visendum alliciet. Ferunt enim naturales appetitum quandam tristem sensationem in stomachi orificio anteire, ut sic natura, quae se ipsam conservare nititur, stimulata reficiatur. Ita recte puto admirari, propter quod philosophari, sciendi desiderium praevenire, ut intellectus, cuius intelligere est esse, studio veritatis perficiatur. Rara quidem, etsi monstra sint, nos movere solent. Quamobrem, praeceptorum unice, pro tua humanitate aliquid digni hic latitare existimes, et ex Germano in rebus divinis talem qualem ratiocinandi modum suscipe, quem mihi labor ingens admodum gratissimum fecit.
Ask about this workWhat is De docta ignorantia (llatí original) about?Summarize De docta ignorantia (llatí original) brieflyWhat are the key ideas in De docta ignorantia (llatí original)?
← Back to Nicholas of Cusa