De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium

E520305

Renaissance treatise book

De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium is a 16th-century work by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa that offers a skeptical critique of the value and reliability of contemporary sciences and arts.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum	1
De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium canonical	1
On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences and Arts	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5444316 — 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: De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium
Context triple: [Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, notableWork, De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium]

A. 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.
B. The Incoherence of the Philosophers
The Incoherence of the Philosophers is a landmark 11th-century work of Islamic philosophy and theology by Al-Ghazali that critiques the metaphysical doctrines of earlier Muslim philosophers and helped reshape the course of Islamic thought.
C. Treatise on Nature and Grace
Treatise on Nature and Grace is a philosophical and theological work by Nicolas Malebranche that explores the relationship between divine providence, grace, and the natural order.
D. 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.
E. Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
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.
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: De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium
Target entity description: De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium is a 16th-century work by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa that offers a skeptical critique of the value and reliability of contemporary sciences and arts.

A. 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.
B. The Incoherence of the Philosophers
The Incoherence of the Philosophers is a landmark 11th-century work of Islamic philosophy and theology by Al-Ghazali that critiques the metaphysical doctrines of earlier Muslim philosophers and helped reshape the course of Islamic thought.
C. Treatise on Nature and Grace
Treatise on Nature and Grace is a philosophical and theological work by Nicolas Malebranche that explores the relationship between divine providence, grace, and the natural order.
D. 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.
E. Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia
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.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (43)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Renaissance treatise ⓘ book ⓘ
addresses	the instability of worldly fame ⓘ the moral dangers of curiosity ⓘ the reliability of human knowledge ⓘ
aimsTo	expose the limitations of human learning ⓘ warn against the vanity of secular knowledge ⓘ
associatedWith	Christian humanism ⓘ occult philosopher Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa ⓘ
author	Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa ⓘ
contrastsWith	humanist optimism about learning ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Holy Roman Empire ⓘ
criticizes	astrology ⓘ contemporary arts ⓘ contemporary sciences ⓘ law ⓘ magic ⓘ medicine ⓘ philosophy ⓘ rhetoric ⓘ scholastic learning ⓘ theology ⓘ
genre	polemical work ⓘ skeptical literature ⓘ
hasAlternativeName	De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum ⓘ On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences and Arts ⓘ linked to: De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium
hasPerspective	emphasis on the limits of human reason ⓘ moral critique of intellectual pride ⓘ
historicalContext	Reformation era ⓘ linked to: Reformation
influencedBy	Christian theology ⓘ classical skepticism ⓘ
intendedAudience	learned readers ⓘ
literaryForm	prose ⓘ
mainTheme	critique of the arts ⓘ critique of the sciences ⓘ skepticism about human knowledge ⓘ vanity of worldly learning ⓘ
originalLanguage	Latin ⓘ
period	Renaissance ⓘ
philosophicalCurrent	Renaissance skepticism ⓘ linked to: Renaissance philosophy
philosophicalDiscipline	epistemology ⓘ ethics ⓘ
publicationCentury	16th century ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa → notableWork → De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium ⓘ

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa → notableWork → De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum ⓘ

subject linked to: Agrippa

linked to: De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium

De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum et artium → hasAlternativeName → On the Uncertainty and Vanity of the Sciences and Arts ⓘ