Nicholas Cusanus’ De Deo Abscondito: An Elementary Logical Analysis
Keywords:
Cusanus, De Deo Abscondito, doubly negated propositions, intuitionist logic, alternative theoretical organizationAbstract
Cusanus’ brief dialogue De Deo Abscondito presents a dialog between a Pagan and a Christian on
the question of whether God can be known. It is shown that the Pagan argues within classical logic,
whereas the Christian consistently reasons through doubly negated propositions and ad absurdum
arguments—forms of reasoning that belong to what was formalized in the twentieth century as
intuitionist logic. Interpreting the dialogue through this logical distinction yields a more accurate
and coherent understanding of both the content and the structure of the argument. The negative
solution to the central problem is expressed through propositions belonging to a logic later
formalized by Vasiliev in the twentieth century. In the end, both discussants reach an agreement
in which even the Pagan comes to speak of God in the same logical mode as the Christian, namely
through, as usually after Augustine, a mere analogy, which preserves the unknowability of God as
transcending all kinds of specific logic. However, Cusanus’ inventiveness leads him to a new
logical thinking, i.e. to both reason in intuitonist logic and organize according to a new method,
albeit in an incomplete way.
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