Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
E359101
Nicholas of Cusa's *De docta ignorantia* is a foundational 15th-century philosophical and theological treatise that articulates the idea that true wisdom arises from recognizing the limits of human knowledge, deeply influencing Renaissance Platonism.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| De docta ignorantia | 2 |
| Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3455559 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia Context triple: [Renaissance Platonism, hasKeyText, Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia]
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A.
Sapientiae Christianae
Sapientiae Christianae is an 1890 encyclical that outlines the duties and responsibilities of Christians in public and social life, emphasizing the proper relationship between Church and state.
-
B.
Introductio ad philosophiam aulicam
Introductio ad philosophiam aulicam is an early modern philosophical work by Christian Thomasius that outlines principles of courtly conduct and practical philosophy for life at court.
-
C.
Montaigne; or, the Skeptic
"Montaigne; or, the Skeptic" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his collection "Representative Men," examining Michel de Montaigne as a model of philosophical skepticism and reflective individualism.
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D.
De Homine
De Homine is a philosophical treatise by Thomas Hobbes that examines human nature, sensation, and behavior within his broader mechanistic and materialist framework.
-
E.
The Place of Useful Learning
The Place of Useful Learning is the motto of the University of Strathclyde, reflecting its focus on practical, applied education and research that benefits society and industry.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia Target entity description: Nicholas of Cusa's *De docta ignorantia* is a foundational 15th-century philosophical and theological treatise that articulates the idea that true wisdom arises from recognizing the limits of human knowledge, deeply influencing Renaissance Platonism.
-
A.
Sapientiae Christianae
Sapientiae Christianae is an 1890 encyclical that outlines the duties and responsibilities of Christians in public and social life, emphasizing the proper relationship between Church and state.
-
B.
Introductio ad philosophiam aulicam
Introductio ad philosophiam aulicam is an early modern philosophical work by Christian Thomasius that outlines principles of courtly conduct and practical philosophy for life at court.
-
C.
Montaigne; or, the Skeptic
"Montaigne; or, the Skeptic" is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his collection "Representative Men," examining Michel de Montaigne as a model of philosophical skepticism and reflective individualism.
-
D.
De Homine
De Homine is a philosophical treatise by Thomas Hobbes that examines human nature, sensation, and behavior within his broader mechanistic and materialist framework.
-
E.
The Place of Useful Learning
The Place of Useful Learning is the motto of the University of Strathclyde, reflecting its focus on practical, applied education and research that benefits society and industry.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
philosophical treatise
ⓘ
theological treatise ⓘ |
| author | Nicholas of Cusa ⓘ |
| bookCount | 3 ⓘ |
| century | 15th century ⓘ |
| circulation | manuscript tradition in the 15th century ⓘ |
| dateWritten | 1440 ⓘ |
| doctrine |
God as the infinite maximum and minimum
ⓘ
God is beyond all finite concepts ⓘ true wisdom recognizes the limits of human reason ⓘ |
| field |
epistemology
ⓘ
metaphysics ⓘ mystical theology ⓘ theology ⓘ |
| genre | scholastic treatise ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
early Renaissance humanism
ⓘ
late medieval philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
German mysticism
ⓘ
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola ⓘ
linked to:
Pico della Mirandola
Marsilio Ficino ⓘ Renaissance Platonism ⓘ Renaissance philosophy ⓘ early modern epistemology ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
coincidentia oppositorum
ⓘ
docta ignorantia ⓘ finite contraction of the maximum ⓘ infinite maximum ⓘ symbolic and mathematical reasoning about God ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| laterForm | printed editions in the early modern period ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
coincidence of opposites
ⓘ
infinity and finitude ⓘ knowledge of God ⓘ learned ignorance ⓘ limits of human knowledge ⓘ negative theology ⓘ |
| method |
dialectical reasoning
ⓘ
use of mathematical analogies ⓘ |
| originalTitle |
De docta ignorantia
ⓘ
linked to:
Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
|
| philosophicalTradition |
Christian Platonism
ⓘ
Renaissance Platonism ⓘ |
| relatedWorkByAuthor |
De coniecturis
ⓘ
De visione Dei ⓘ
linked to:
Beatific Vision
|
| religiousContext |
Roman Catholic theology
ⓘ
linked to:
Catholic theology
|
| structure | three books ⓘ |
| subjectOfBook1 | knowledge of God and the Trinity ⓘ |
| subjectOfBook2 | cosmology and the created world ⓘ |
| subjectOfBook3 | Christology and salvation ⓘ |
| titleInEnglish | On Learned Ignorance ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia Description of subject: Nicholas of Cusa's *De docta ignorantia* is a foundational 15th-century philosophical and theological treatise that articulates the idea that true wisdom arises from recognizing the limits of human knowledge, deeply influencing Renaissance Platonism.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject linked to:
Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
linked to: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
linked to: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia