The
via negativa is also known as the apophatic path of mysticism:
Apophatic -- Derivation: Gr apophasis, denial < apophanai, to deny < apo-, away, + phanai, say, assert
Definition: in rhetoric, apophasis is the artful mention of something by denying that it will be mentioned ("we will not remind you of his many crimes"); in the mystical tradition, the apophatic way is the way of "denial," claiming that God cannot be known; anything we claim to know as God is not, in fact, God. The "negative" way, the via negativa. Example:
The Cloud of Unknowing.
There is also a
via positiva, called the
cataphatic path.