Nicholas Cusanus and the Problem of Ignorance. A Minor Polemic with the Interpretation of Étienne Gilson

Abstract

Nicholas Cusanus is often seen as a pivotal figure in the history of Western philosophy. His writings are sometimes viewed as an attempt to reject the traditional scholarly knowledge, troubled by manifold tensions and crises, in order to prevent the collapse of Western Christianity under the weight of its complex architecture of knowledge. In this paper, I try to refute this mode of interpretation by highlighting the roots and structure of Cusanus’s theory of knowledge that serve as the basis of his concept of docta ignorantia. I present the concept of docta ignorantia as being intended to serve the purpose of a unifying framework for academic discourse.

Keywords

• nicholas cusanus
• étienne gilson
• aristotle
• wisdom
• ignorance
• knowledge
• mysticism
• first principles
• natural desire
• negative theology