Theological and philosophical tradition — also called negative theology or via negativa — holding that the divine transcends all positive description and can only be approached through negation (God is not finite, not composite, not comprehensible) — the dominant mystical-theological tradition in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Creates the most rigorous philosophical response to the limits of theological language — Apophaticism insists that any positive predication of God (God is good, wise, powerful) applied univocally fails because divine attributes infinitely exceed human categories; only negation preserves divine transcendence — this generates the apophatic mystical tradition (Pseudo-Dionysius, Maimonides, Ibn Arabi, Meister Eckhart, The Cloud of Unknowing) across all three Abrahamic faiths.
Discussing
Ask anything about Apophaticism — their ideas, influences, contradictions, legacy.
Sign in to start a conversation.