Resenha - CUSA, Nicolás de. De docta ignorantia.

At the beginning of De Visione Dei, Nicholas of Cusa puts us before an icon of the divine glance and invites us to an experimentation – initially surrounded by the metaphorical reflection – of the mystic contemplation. Working with the metaphor of the glance, the Cusano leaves us before the Creator’s look and the creature’s look. In the De Visione Dei, the divine look is creator and lover. The God’s look sees, creates and loves. This way, the present work will (...) look for to meditate on the importance of the glance, seeking in the De Visione Dei a way to relate the multiplicity of the created look with the unit of the creator look. (shrink)

Il contributo consiste in una analisi e commento della prima sezione del De docta ignorantia di Nicola Cusano (capp. I-XVI), dedicata ai concetti di precisione matematica e di uguaglianza. Il saggio offre la possibilità di ripercorrere la teoria della conoscenza di Cusano, laddove l'impossibilità per la ragione di giungere ad una mens-ura precisa dell'oggetto da conoscere non si trasforma in una mera cultura del limite, bensì la filosofia negativa diviene base per la mistica. In altri termini l'obiettivo specifico (...) del saggio è rilevare come il metodo della dotta ignoranza apra alla conoscenza dell'infinito proprio nel momento in cui essa nega ogni conoscenza razionale precisa. La matematica diviene dunque il fondamento su cui far leva per innalzare la propria mente (transferre) verso la conoscenza simbolica di Dio, nel medesimo solco tracciato da Dionigi e dalla tradizione della mistica speculativa. (shrink)

This article discusses the reception of Plato's Timaeus in De docta ignorantia of Nicolas of Cusa (1401-1464), particularly about the philosophical concepts of being, time and the production of the cosmos. In this context, it is argued that the School of Chartres had played a significant role in the replacement of philosophical categories of Plato in the Christianity. But the contribution of Nicolas of Cusa to the history of the reception of the Timaeus in the Middle Ages it (...) seems original because Nicolas, more than others, use this text in order to show that the world is a being-in-relation, as God is the relationship of three persons. (shrink)

The bio-ethical debate on PGD and embryonie stem-cell research is characterized by many paradoxes, regarding the moral status of earliest human life between ›nature‹ and ›subjectivity‹. The ›conditio humana‹, however, is not defined by biological features. As a cultural factor, it focuses on the self-realization of the subject in contexts of social acknowledgement. Against this background, the article deals with the anthropological metaphor of the image-of-god and its peculiar character of not being an image. This allows us to explain a (...) ›negative‹ concept of anthropology, analogaus to the dialectical model of ›docta ignorantia‹. On the one hand, this concept of a human being avoids a definition of its very beginning as coming tagether of ›nature‹ and ›subjectivity‹, whereas, on the other hand, the absolute dignity of the human is emphasized. By this line of thought some argurnents are clarified, which have arisen in the bioethical debate for and against PGD and stern-cell research. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Das Mittelalter Jahrgang: 19 Heft: 1 Seiten: 34-60.

Die vorliegende philosophisch-fundamentalethische Studie nimmt diese Debatte auf im Blick auf die Fundamente ethischer Begründung und sittlichen Subjekt-Seins. Sie stellt die Frage nach der Bedingung der Möglichkeit - d.h. nach den epistemischen Voraussetzungen, den Potentialen und den Grenzen - der Selbstverständigung des menschlichen Erkenntnissubjekts, das sich auch als sittliches Subjekt versteht. Anhand der Denkansätze von Nicolaus Cusanus, Karl Rahner und Dieter Henrich kann sie eine offene Stelle im Selbstverstehen des Menschen freilegen. Diese Lücke im Selbstverstehen wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit (...) im Rahmen einer vernunftgeleiteten Selbstaufklärung philosophisch verortet, interpretiert und als notwendig für ein angemessenes Selbstverstehen bestätigt. Es ist dabei das Motiv der Docta ignorantia, das hier für die Selbstverständigung des Menschen fruchtbar gemacht wird. Die Studie arbeitet seine Rolle heraus und weist eine positive Bedeutung des Motivs für die Identitätsbildung eines jeweiligen Subjekts auf. Zudem werden Wege einer wissenschaftstheoretisch und lebenspraktisch befriedigenden Überbrückung der Lücken im sicheren Wissen aufgezeigt sowie vertiefte Einsichten für angemessenes Verständnis des Phänomens menschlicher Freiheit und Sittlichkeit eröffnet"-- Back cover. (shrink)

The presence of Neoplatonism in contemporary french phenomenology has a pregnance that crosses its most relevant points. Jean-Luc Marion's work does not escape this. In this work we approach the marionian appropriation of Nicholas of Cusa's thought, in the light of his writing Certitudes négatives, with the intention of understanding the cusanu´s ignorant doctrine as a way of negative certainty. La presencia del neoplatonismo en la fenomenología francesa contemporánea posee una pregnancia que atraviesa sus puntos más relevantes. La obra de (...) Jean-Luc Marion no escapa a esto. En este trabajo abordamos la apropiación marioniana del pensamiento de Nicolás de Cusa, a la luz de su escrito Certitudes négatives, con la intención de comprender la doctrina ignorante del Cusano como un modo de certeza negativa. (shrink)

To the venerable and devout man, Lord John of Gelnhausen,2 formerly abbot in Maulbronn, intercessor for one of his own. Most lovable Father, I was recently presented with Learned Ig- norance, which consists of three books (each incomplete in itself) and which is written in a sufficiently elegant style. It begins with the words “Admirabitur, et recte, maximum tuum et iam probatissimum ingeni- um” and ends “Eo aeternaliter fruituri qui est in saecula benedictus. Amen.” Having looked over [this work], I (...) feel called upon to write Un- known Learning. Here—by means of [a view] opposed to the points which the aforementioned Learned Ignorance deals with (in my judgment, harmfully) in regard to God, the universe, and Jesus Christ— an entrance opens unto the powers of the Lord so that we may be mindful of His justice.3 Those who lack the knowledge of this justice have disobediently established their own, as the apostle says in Romans 10.4 The promise of eternal life will perhaps lighten the burden of this work which I have undertaken. [ This promise] concerns the repayment of supererogation (Luke 10)5 and was made by God to the clarifiers of truth—[made] in what is written in Ecclesiasticus 24: “Those who explain me shall have eternal life.”6 From an innate desire for health the minds of my readers will be vigilant with regard even to this Unknown Learning. With spiritual weapons, however, I am going to rebut certain statements from Learned Ignorance-—[rebut them] as being incompatible with our faith, offensive to devout minds, and vainly leading away from obedience to God. At the head of what must be said comes the [command] in Psalms 45 (“Be still and see that I am God”)7 as being the legitimate enlistment of all our mental activity. For if I behold the mind of the prophet: after the elimination of malevolent wars. which are repugnant to our God, and, moreover, after the weapons of treachery have been broken8 and knowledge is to be had of Christ, our peacemaker and defender, then comes the command “Be still and see that.... (shrink)

O presente artigo busca analisar, a partir da leitura da obra De Quaerendo Deum, como a questão da luz se faz central no processo de elevação intelectual a partir do sensível na obra cusana. Nele iremos mostrar como a luz é o elo que guia o objeto sensível até o intelecto e o intelecto até Deus. Tomado esse objetivo, o artigo será dividido em duas partes, na primeira iremos abordar a questão central da obra De Docta Ignorantia, que (...) é os limites de se conhecer propriamente Deus e as essências das coisas. Vai se buscar a partir daí apresentar os fundamentos para o que será o papel da experiência estética em Cusa. A constatação do nosso limite em conhecer verdadeiramente o infinito e a Verdade geradora não são postos por Cusa como forma de desestimular a conjectura sobre elas, pelo contrário, é a partir dessa constatação que nos é possível, pela ignorância esclarecida, buscar mais propriamente nos aproximarmos, ainda que nunca cheguemos, dessas Verdades. Tomada essa base fundamental, trabalharemos no segundo tópico o ponto central aqui proposto, a saber, a importância da luz nesse processo. Focados principalmente na obra cusana De Quaerendo Deum iremos articular os conceitos de teofania e a importância da luz. A teofania será central para o conceito de anagogia através da contemplação estética, fundamentando como pode-se buscar conjecturar sobre o Criador a partir de sua manifestação na criação. Longe de ser um panteista a teoria cusana busca expressar que, apesar de inacessível em sua totalidade devido a sua própria natureza, o Deus cusano não se esconde, mas sim se manifesta na sua criação, sendo possível conjecturar sobre Ele a partir da percepção sensível sobre os objetos criados. Nesse sistema, a luz será explorada tanto enquanto luz sensível, como também enquanto a luz interior e principalmente a luz como manifestação e ligação com a divindade a partir do intelecto humano, dessa forma vai se mostrar como todo o processo de elevação a partir da contemplação sensível tem a presença da luz como parte essencial. Palavras chave: Cusa. Estética. Luz. Teofania. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 On February 12, 1440 Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) concludes in his birthplace of Kues drafting the first major systematic formulation of his thinking: De docta ignorantia . The main category of his metaphysics in this context, i.e. the maximum , is analyzed and interpreted by him on three considerations: the maximum in an absolute sense, as contracted and finally as absolute and contracted, at the same time. In the context of the (...) First Book, which presents the singular methodology of the docta ignorantia , considers the maximum in itself in light of the paradoxical concept of coincidentia oppositorum in the absolute. In the final chapters of this first book tackles the critical of the theological discourse and thus, the problem of the ineffable name of maximum et minimum absolutum . Hence the purpose of this work is the further on cusan’s evaluation of language problem as it shows through treatment of the theological discourses and divine names that emerge from them, in light of the way of docta ignorantia. (shrink)

The degree of corroboration of a scientific hypothesis is an issue that has been repeatedly discussed in modern theory of sciences . In a preceding paper it was shown that the formulae advanced by Popper to calculate the degree of corroboration C are not very satisfactory because the probability values required in the computation of C are not available as a rule. Another equation to measure the degree of corroboration B was proposed ), whereby only the number n of unsuccessful (...) efforts to falsify a scientific hypothesis by means of adequate experiments or observations is needed to be known. Shortly after the publication of these ideas I discovered that Nicolaus Cusanus in his book "De docta ignorantia" had proposed a model of scientific "verisimilitude" which leads to a quite similar relationship between B and the number n of independent proofs or observations. The "polygonal" model of verisimilitude ) mentioned by Cusanus is presumably the first quantitative estimate proposed for this problem in philosophical literature. (shrink)

Normal 0 21 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabela normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Neste trabalho interessa-nos pensar a relaçáo entre unidade e multiplicidade, um problema fundamental tanto filosófico quanto teológico como lembra Beierwaltes (1989, p. 179), a partir do vocabulário filosófico-teológico cusano. Na primeira parte do texto fazemos uma leitura às avessas da obra cusana. Partimos da suposiçáo de que no De (...) apice tehoriae Nicolau de Cusa sugere um princípio a partir do qual pode ser lida tanto a sua última obra quanto toda a sua especulaçáo. Uma correta interpretaçáo desse princípio pode ser construída ao pensarmos o modo de ser próprio das coisas criadas. O princípio primeiro se deixa ver e as coisas principiadas sáo sua manifestaçáo e apariçáo. Porém, apariçáo perfeita do princípio é o seu Verbo. Em termos filosóficos isso significa que a apariçáo perfeita da unidade náo é a pluralidade (sua explicatio ), mas a igualdade (sua imago ). Será o De mente a nos sugerir a diferença. Na segunda parte, portanto, refletiremos sobre a complicatio - explicatio como aposta cusana para se pensar o problema da unidade e da multiplicidade. Retomamos essa discussáo a partir do De docta ignorantia e da Apologia quando Nicolau deve se defender da acusaçáo feita por Wenck, no De ignota litteratura , de ter feito coincidir criador e criatura. (shrink)

Heft 1. Der Laie über die Weishelt, von E. Bohnenstädt.--Heft 2. Über den Beryll. von K. Fleischmann.--Heft 3. Drei Schriften vom verborgenen Gott. De Deo abscondito. De quaerendo Deum. De filiatione Dei. Hrsg. von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft. 5. Von Gottes Sehen. De visione Dei. Von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft 4. Der Laie über Versuche mit der Waage. Idiota de staticis experimentis. Von H. Menzel-Rogner.--Heft 6-7. Sichtung des Alkorans. Cribratio Alkoran. 1. Buch von P. Naumann. 2.-3. Buch von G. Hölscher.--Heft 8. Über den Frieden (...) im Glauben. De pace fidei. Von L. Mohler.--Heft 9. Vom Können-Sein. De possest. Vom Gipfel der Betrachtung. De apice theoriae. Von E. Bohnenstaedt.--Heft 10. Der Laie über den Geist. Idiota de mente. Von M. Honecker und H. Menzel-Rogner.--Heft 11. Die manthematischen Schriften, übers. von J. Hofmann, mit einer Einführung und Anmerkungen versehen von J.E. Hofmann.-- --Heft 13. Vom Globusspiel. De ludo globi, übers. und mit Einführung und Anmerkungen versehen, von G. von Bredow. --Heft. 15. De docta ignorantia. Die belehrte Unwissenheit. Übers. und mit Vorwort und Anmerkungen von P. Wilpert. (2 v.)--Heft. 16. Compendium. Kompendium. Übers. und mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen hrsg. von B. Decker und K. Bormann.--Heft 17. De coniecturis. Mutmassungen. Übers. und mit Einführung und Anmerkungen hrsg. von J. Koch und W. Happ.--[18] Über den Ursprung. De principio. Deutsch mit Einführung von Maria Feigl.--Heft 19. Die höchste Stufe der Betrachtung. Herausgegeben von Hans Gerhard Senger. (shrink)

Dans cet essai de cosmologie sauvage, je ne me suis pas adressé aux marquises et aux abbesses, comme le fit Fontenelle, mon lointain prédécesseur, en son temps. Mon public est profane et il refuse d'emblée la docte ignorance (docta ignorantia) des métaphysiciens et des mystiques, femmes savantes ou esprits crédules. Il se méfie aussi bien des mystifications dont se parent parfois les savants et les scientifiques, aussi bien que des fabulations des auteurs de science-fiction, mais il tend l'oreille (...) souvent aux poètes, écrivains et philosophes inquiets. La cosmologie ou théorie de l'univers est-elle possible et n'est-elle pas limitée par un horizon, l'horizon du visible ou de l'observable? Imaginer un au-delà de l'horizon est la tâche de la cosmologie spéculative qui a remplacé la métaphysique et qui prend alors la relève de la mythologie pour inventer la scène primitive d'une mer originelle. Cette eau originaire, que l'on retrouve chez Thalès dans la philosophie grecque présocratique, n'est pas si éloignée des fluctuations du vide quantique et le mythe de l'océan primitif peut être perçu comme la matrice de toutes les cosmogonies. Mais qui n'abordera jamais les rives de l'origine? La limite antérieure de l'origine rejoint la limite de l'horizon : toutes deux sont récessives et l'on ne peut concevoir l'univers que comme une sphère, ce qu'un autre penseur présocratique, Parménide, avait bien vu. C'est dans cette sphère que l'observateur local se tient et tient ensemble l'origine et l'horizon pour mesurer l'empan de l'univers, avec la Terre en son centre. (shrink)

Life and the living (on Aristotelian biohorror) -- Supernatural horror as the paradigm for life -- Aristotle's De anima and the problem of life -- The ontology of life -- The entelechy of the weird -- Superlative life -- Life with or without limits -- Life as time in Plotinus -- On the superlative -- Superlative life I: Pseudo-Dionysius -- Negative vs. affirmative theology -- Superlative negation -- Negation and preexistent life -- Excess, evil, and non-being -- Superlative life II: (...) Eriugena -- Negation in the periphyseon -- The quaestio de nihilo: on nothing -- The quaestio de nihilo: superlative nothing -- Dark intelligible abyss -- Apophasis -- The apophatic logic -- Negation in Frege and Ayer -- Negation vs. subtraction in Badiou -- Negation and contradiction in Priest -- The dialetheic vitalism of negative theology -- Ellipses: Suhraward and the luminous void -- Univocal creatures -- On spiritual creatures -- Life as form in Aristotle -- The concept of the creature -- Univocity I: Duns Scotus vs. Aquinas -- Univocity in Aquinas' Summa theologica -- Univocity in Duns Scotus' Opus oxoniense -- The common nature of the creature -- Univocity II: Duns Scotus vs. Henry of Ghent -- Univocity in Henry of Ghent -- Negative vs. privative indetermination -- Absolute indetermination -- Univocity III: Deleuze's scholasticism three variations -- Spinoza et le problème de l'expression -- Différence et répétition -- Cours de Vincennes -- Univocal creatures -- Ellipses: Dgen and uncreated univocity -- Dark pantheism -- Everything and nothing -- Life as spirit in Aquinas -- The concept of the divine nature -- Immanence I: Eriugena's periphyseon -- Natura and the unthought -- Universal life -- Four statements on pantheism -- Immanence II: Duns Scotus' reportatio Ia -- Univocal immanence -- Actual infinity -- The pathology of the triple primacy -- Immanence III: Nicholas of Cusa's De docta ignorantia -- The coincidence of opposites -- The folds of life -- Absolute vs. contracted pantheism -- Speculative pantheism (Deleuze's interlocutors) -- Pantheism and pure immanence -- The insubordination of immanence in Deleuze -- Scholia I: the isomorphism of univocity and immanence -- Scholia II: the vitalist logic of common notions -- Scholia III: the life of substance -- Dark pantheism -- Ellipses: Wang Yangming and idealist naturalism -- Logic and life (on Kantian teratology) -- The wandering line from Aristotle to Kant -- Critique of life -- Spectral life and speculative realism -- Ontotheology in Kant, atheology in Bataille -- The night land. (shrink)

I argue for a transformative revival or actualization of the very core of an integrative, methodologically secured form of intellect‑mystical asceticism. This approach draws on traditional sources that are re‑examined from a systematic—synthetic and transcultural—philosophical perspective and in light of the multi‑civilizational global environment of the 21st century. The main traditional points of reference in this paper are provided by Nicolaus de Cusa and Ibn Sīnā, and I refer toa few others, such as Attar of Nishapur, in passing. I begin (...) by developing a basic concept of intellect‑mystical asceticism. It is distinguished from mystification, science, scientism, and modes of everyday communication and cognition. Then, I make the case for an updated, transcultural approach to intellect‑mysticism that can foster the internal (social) and external (environmental) reintegration of the human noosphere and technosphere in future planetary development. In this context, a modern intellect‑mystical philosophical notion of “knowing non‑knowing” (wissendes Nichtwissen, docta ignorantia) is developed. It is inspired by Nicolaus de Cusa and contextualized from a systematic transcultural angle at the same time. Finally, I discuss the problem of the practical, or rather ascetic, realization of the related possibilities of intellect‑mystical self‑enfolding. Here, the preceding steps of the reflection are mapped onto an outline regarding distinct developmental stages of such a transformative intellect‑mystical practice in Ibn Sīnā’s Remarks and Admonitions (al‑Ishārāt wat‑Tanbīhāt). (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 42.2 (2004) 220-221 [Access article in PDF] Clyde Lee Miller. Reading Cusanus: Metaphor and Dialectic in a Conjectural Universe. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2003. Pp. viii + 276. Cloth, $64.95. In an age where the idea of postmodernity gains more and more ground, the period of postmodern thinking has turned into a major challenge to the human mind. Whereas the (...) project of modernity revokes itself through the contradictions it has generated, the need to find new perspectives makes us wonder what happened in the 15th century when the Renaissance paved the way to modernity and still contained seeds of alternative developments which for one reason or another did not get a chance to germinate. This is an invitation to concentrate on the work of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) as one of the major Renaissance thinkers.Miller's book is an attempt to promote the understanding of Cusanus by a close reading of six of the major works of this author. In reading these works he focuses on Cusan thought both as this thought presents itself in these works, and as it appears against the background of traditional philosophy, especially when seen in the light of the Neoplatonic tradition.The works in question are the books On Learned Ignorance (De docta ignorantia) and On Conjectures (De coniecturis), aptly presented under the title: "Envisiong the Whole," and "Conjecturing Oneness and Otherness" respectively. The remaining four works concern the The Layman: About Mind (Idiota de mente) in which Cusanus develops his understanding of the mind and of intellectual authenticity; The Vision of God (De visione Dei), a treatise on mystical theology and an invitation to enter the divine mystery through a combination of prayer and reflection; On the Not Other (De non aliud), a highly speculative work on divine immanence and transcendence; and The Hunt for Wisdom (De venatione sapientiae) in which Cusanus gives an account of his philosophy by connecting it with the metaphor of a hunt in ten different fields. [End Page 220]Miller begins his book with an Introduction in which he outlines his approach to Cusanus, taking the cue from Plato's image of the divided line with its emphasis on the dialectical distinction between noesis (intellect) and dianoia (reason), and from the dialogue On the Hidden God (De Deo abscondito), a brief discussion between a Heathen and a Christian in which Cusanus connects the theme of learned ignorance with the act of adoration. The distinction between reason and intellect is important because the work of Cusanus is a continuous effort to cope with the meaning of distinctions and their impact on our ways of thinking. The reference to the dialogue is significant because this text clearly indicates that the quest for God is the central issue in the thought of Cusanus, and that the notion of ignorance is actually connected with the theoretical and practical meaning of God.In his discussion of the six works Miller follows the text of Cusanus which he presents in the form of argumentative summaries and complementary reflections. His presentation is lucid and to the point. In his reflections on the text and context of Cusan thought he gives valuable insights into the historical position of Cusanus and the manner in which Nicholas appropriated and transformed traditional ways of thinking. At the same time Miller keeps track of the reception of Cusanus by contemporary scholarship and the various interpretations it has to offer.The book ends with a "reprise" of the previous chapters which provides "an overall perspective on Nicholas' thought and its main themes and proposals" (241). The central elements of this perspective are "the metaphysics of the Infinite and the finite" (242) and the doctrine of perspectival relations as it has been developed in De coniecturis. What connects them with one another finds expression in the distinction (and transition) between explanatory and exploratory metaphors (252); that is, between metaphors such as "image-exemplar" and "unfolding-enfolding," which provide explanatory structures for the interpretation of reality, and metaphors such... (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDer ca. 1445 von Nikolaus von Kues verfasste Dialog »De Deo abscondito« widmet sich der erkenntnistheoretischen Frage, ob Gott und was von ihm erkannt werden kann. Damit führt der Kusaner seine Überlegungen insbesondere aus seinem Hauptwerk »De docta ignorantia« fort. Wie dort, so kommt er auch in diesem Dialog zu dem Schluss, Gott als derjenige, der alle Gegensätze in sich vereinige, könne weder via positionis noch via negationis erkannt und beschrieben werden. Vielmehr sei Gott vor aller sagbaren Wahrheit (...) und mehr noch: vor allem Gedanken, der über ihn gedacht werden könne. Darin übertrifft der Kusaner den Anselm'schen Gottesbeweis. Gerade in der Nichterkennbarkeit erweise sich die Existenz Gottes und liege der Grund, ihn anzubeten. Das Wesen Gottes bleibt für den Menschen in der absconditas. Die Frage, ob die Rede vom verborgenen Gott bei Nikolaus von Kues auf Luther gewirkt habe, lässt sich historisch nicht eindeutig klären, dürfte aber eher unwahrscheinlich sein. Theologisch liegt jedenfalls keine Beeinflussung vor, da Luthers Rede vom deus absconditus kein erkenntnistheoretisches Problem lösen will, sondern in den Kontext des Willens Gottes im Gegenüber zum menschlichen Willen gehört und damit eine soteriologische Frage, von der Offenbarung in Christus aus gedacht, beantwortet.SummaryThe dialogue “De Deo abscondito”, composed by Nicolas of Cues in ca. 1445, is dedicated to the epistemological problem whether and to what extent God can be known. Nicolas is continuing here the train of thought of his most important work “De docta ignorantia”. In both works, Nicolas comes to the conclusion that God can neither be known and described via positionis nor via negationis. Rather, God precedes any expressible truth and, what is more, any thought that could be thought about him. Thus, Nicolas goes beyond Anselm's argument for God's existence. The existence of God and the reason for worshipping him is manifested exactly by the impossibility of knowing or proving that existence. For human beings, the essence of God remains absconditas. The question whether the conception of the hidden God in Nicolas of Cues has influenced Luther cannot be definitely solved historically; a direct influence is rather improbable. At any rate, there is no theological parallel between the two, as Luther's concept of the Deus absconditus does not respond to an epistemological problem. It rather concerns the divine will in its opposition to the human will and responds to a soteriological problem in the light of the revelation in Christ. (shrink)

Este artículo presenta la revisión de los antecedentes medievales sobre el diálogo entre las diferentes religiones. Esta revisión tiene lugar a la luz del De pace fidei de Nicolás de Cusa, que ha sido interpretado en la modernidad como un modelo de tolerancia religiosa. La inaccesibilidad de la verdad o deus absconditus y el factum de la diversidad, sientan las bases para la búsqueda de la unidad en la diferencia. La fundamentación filosófica de la Trinidad y la Encamación, cuya aceptación (...) es indispensable para la construcción de la paz de la fe, muestra la coherencia que Nicolás establece entre filosofia y teologia, entendidas ambas en el sentido de la docta ignorantia. (shrink)

I argue that Nicholas of Cusa agrees with Thomas Aquinas on the metaphysics of analogy in God, but differs on epistemology, taking a Platonic position against Aquinas’ Aristotelianism. As a result Cusa has to rethink Thomas’ solution to the problem of discourse about God. In De docta ignorantia he uses the mathematics of the infinite as a clue to the relations between a thing and its Measure and this allows him, he thinks, to adapt Aquinas’ approach to the (...) problem of his own epistemology. The resulting approach, I maintain, is coherent and reasonable if the metaphysical views behind it are. (shrink)

O sermão número 48, “O dia santificado” (Sermo XLVIII: Dies Santificatus), proferido em Mainz na data de 6 de Janeiro de 1445, na Festa da Epifania do Senhor, traz alguns temas de interesse na compreensão do desenvolvimento da filosofia cusana no período imediatamente posterior à obra A douta ignorância (De docta ignorantia, 1440) e As conjecturas (1442). Este sermão é citado no opúsculo A busca de Deus (De querendo deum, I, 16, 3), de 1445, como sendo a primeira (...) tentativa cusana de tratar do tema dos “modos de conhecimento” (modi cognoscendi) a partir da perspectiva do tema da “luz e das cores”, caro à tradição de comentadores escolásticos do De anima aristotélico, tentativa essa que viria a ser aprimorada no referido opúsculo. Nele, Cusa busca uma “conjectura” capaz de simbolizar a relação paradoxal de imanência e transcendência entre Deus e a criação, mediante a relação que se estabelece entre a luz sensível e as cores do arco-íris. A luz, embora explicada em suas determinações, isto é, nas cores, ainda permanece transcendente às mesmas, as complicando enquanto luz pura. Do mesmo modo, Cusa evoca o exemplo do “sentido comum” da tradição escolástica, que em sua interpretação neoplatonizante, seria responsável por “complicar” todos os sentidos. Por fim, mediante tais exemplos da luz e dos sentidos, Cusa encaminha sua reflexão à visão do “modo de ser divino”, que, segundo ele, também poderia ser intuído no exemplo do nome divino IHWH. Esse nome inominável que complica todos os nomes, assim como os exemplos tratados, simboliza aquela realidade divina que complica e explica todas as coisas. A reunião desses exemplos é abalizada por uma coleção de citações escriturais, que buscam trazer respaldo às suas interpretações. (shrink)

Diese zweisprachige Ausgabe bietet in übersichtlicher Präsentation die zentralen Texte des Cusaners, versehen mit einer Einleitung, die gründlich in das Gesamtwerk einführt. Sie basiert auf den in der PhB erschienenen Studienausgaben, die der historisch-kritischen Ausgabe der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften folgen. Die Übersetzungen stammen von namhaften Cusanusforschern, Anmerkungen, Literaturverzeichnisse und Indices erschließen die Texte. Band 1: Einleitung. De docta ignorantia / Die belehrte Unwissenheit Band 2: De coniecturis / Mutmaßungen · Idiota de sapientia / Der Laie über die (...) Weisheit · Idiota de mente / Der Laie über den Geist Band 3: Trialogus de possest / Dreiergespräch über das Können-Ist · De beryllo / Über den Beryll · Tu quis es / Über den Ursprung · De ludo globi / Gespräch über das Globusspiel Band 4: De venatione sapientiae / Die Jagd nach Weisheit · Compendium / Kompendium · De apice theoriae / Die höchste Stufe der Betrachtung "In der Geschichte der Philosophie nimmt das Werk des Nikolaus von Kues (1401–1464), das zugleich die letzte eigenwüchsige Synthese mittelalterlicher Weisheit und die gedankliche Grundlegung der großen Systeme der beginnenden Renaissance der neueren Zeit darstellt, eine epochemachende Stellung ein. Die Kühnheit seiner Fragestellungen, deren Nachwirkung noch im Denken eines Descartes, Spinoza und Leibniz und in manchen der tiefsten Ansätze des deutschen Idealismus spürbar ist, wird das philosophische Denken der Gegenwart dazu führen, sich in zunehmendem Maße mit dem Gedankengebäude des Cusanus zu beschäftigen." Raymond Klibansky. (shrink)

La concepción cusana de la possibilitas / materia (posibilidad / materia) está directamente ligada con la doctrina de los modos de ser (modi essendi) sobre los que el Cusano se explaya, con diversos grados de profundidad, en varias de sus obras, entre las que se cuenta De docta ignorantia (1440), De conjecturis (1440), De Mente (1450), De venatione sapientiae (1462) y De ludo globi (1463). A lo largo de esas obras Nicolás de Cusa aborda dos aspectos centrales de (...) la posibilidad / materia, estrechamente relacionados entre sí: el aspecto ontológico y el aspecto gnoseológico. En la primera sección de este artículo expondremos la caracterización ontológica de la posibilidad / materia en el marco de los distintos modos de ser. En la segunda sección nos dedicaremos a desarrollar las perspectivas de Cusa acerca del conocimiento del modo de ser de la posibilidad o materia . (shrink)

Die Studie untersucht die Entwicklung des Gottesbegriffs und der diesbezüglichen Erkenntnisschritte im Werk des Nikolaus von Kues. Im Einzelnen werden in chronologischer Reihenfolge textphilologisch analysiert: 'De docta ignorantia', 'De coniecturis', 'De deo abscondito', 'De visione Dei', 'Trialogus de possest', 'De non aliud' und 'De apice theoriae'. Die Untersuchung unterstreicht die Relevanz der cusanischen Theologie für den gegenwärtigen Diskurs, wobei sie zugleich deren Anschlussfähigkeit an die christliche Tradition thematisiert. Zahlreiche Graphiken und formallogische Darstellungen bündeln die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse.

Out of the broad variety of Cusanus' work, this book discusses six of his writings, careful not to isolate them from the whole of his work. It instead presents them against the maturation of Cusanus' thinking as it developed from his first sermons up to his shortest philosophical text De apice theoriae. The texts in question are De docta ignorantia, De coniecturis, Idiota de mente, De beryllo, Trialogus de possest and De apice theoriae. In the search for God, (...) or rather in Cusanus' lifetime eff orts to have his spirit touch the fi rst principle and the basis of all things, new perspectives on the world and man within would open up for Cusanus. Respecting this basic intention of Cusanus' thinking, the author primarily deals with Cusanus' ontotheological (metaphysical) claims and, in their context, turns his attention to the cosmological, or anthropologico-gnoseological opinions. (shrink)

This paper argues that Nicholas of Cusa’s investigation of infinity and incommensurability in De docta ignorantia was shaped by the mathematical innovations and thought experiments of fourteenth-century natural philosophy. Cusanus scholarship has overlooked this influence, in part because Raymond Klibansky’s influential edition of De docta ignorantia situated Cusa within the medieval Platonic tradition. However, Cusa departs from this tradition in a number of ways. His willingness to engage incommensurability and to compare different magnitudes of infinity distinguishes (...) him from his Platonic predecessors, who had appropriated the Pythagorean model of universal harmonies. Cusa’s penchant for representing quantity geometrically suggests not only that he has adopted the fourteenth-century method of latitude measurement, but that he accepts incommensurability as normative. Finally, Cusa’s persistent attention to mathematical inaccuracy and to his own learned ignorance suggests his kinship with the meta-critical, conjectural quality of fourteenth-century thought. (shrink)

Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464) konzipiert menschliche Erkenntnis als kreative, asymptotische Assimilation: Auf kreative Weise verähnlichen sich Menschen in Erkenntnisprozessen Denkunabhängigem, ohne diesen Verähnlichungsprozess je zum Abschluss bringen zu können. Obwohl menschliche Erkenntnis als kreativ charakterisiert wird, verliert sie nicht die Welthaftung. Obwohl sie asymptotisch verläuft, führt sie nicht zu Pessimismus und einem Ablassen von Erkenntnisbemühungen überhaupt. Cusanus macht die beiden Kernaspekte seines Modells menschlicher Erkenntnis trotz einiger systematischer Unschärfen im Rahmen eines massvollen Erkenntnisoptimismus kompatibel. Die vorliegende Monographie befasst sich mit diesem (...) Modell in zwei Hinsichten. Zunächst wird seine systematische Gestalt über das cusanische Oeuvre hinweg untersucht. Die zu diesem Zweck herangezogenen Werke sind De docta ignorantia, De coniecturis, Idiota de mente, De beryllo und das Compendium. Im Anschluss werden dann zentrale epistemologische Anfragen eingehender betrachtet und historisch kontextualisiert: Cusanus' Intellektverständnis, seine Stellung zu species-Theorien von Erkenntnis, seine Wahrheitsauffassung und sein Modell menschlichen Weltbezugs. Vergleiche mit den Positionen von Aristoteles und Augustinus, Thomas von Aquin und Dietrich von Freiberg, Anselm von Canterbury sowie John McDowell machen dabei sowohl die Eigenheiten von Cusanus als auch seine Verhaftung in der epistemologischen Tradition sichtbar. (shrink)

Like any important philosophical work, De Docta Ignorantia cannot be understood by merely being read: it must be studied. For its main themes are so profoundly innovative that their author's exposition of them could not have anticipated, and therefore taken measures to prevent, all the serious misunderstandings which were likely to arise. Moreover, the themes are so extensively interlinked that a misunderstanding of any one of them will serve to obscure all the others as well. In such case, (...) the mental effort required of the reader-who-interprets must approximate the effort expended by the author-who- instructs. No words are more self-condemning than are those of John Wenck, at the conclusion of whose critique of De Docta Ignorantia we read: “Et sic est finis scriptis cursorie Heydelberg”: “And this is the end to what was written cursorily at Heidelberg.”1 Nicholas has not made his reader's task easy. For in spite of his claim to have explained matters “as clearly as I could” and to have avoided “all roughness of style,” many of his points escape even the diligent reader, since the explanation for them is either too condensed, or else too barbarously expressed, to be assuredly followed. And yet, from out of the vagueness, the ambiguity, the amphiboly, the enthymematic movement of thought, there emerges—for a reader patient enough to solliciter doucement les textes—an internally coherent pattern of reasoning. The present translation of this reasoning aims above all at accuracy.2 To this end the rendering is literal, though with no deliberate sacrifice of literate English expression. Only a literal translation (but not word for word) permits the subtle twists and turns of Nicholas's arguments to shine forth.3 The earlier, radically inaccurate rendering by Germain Heron (1954) distorts Nicholas's arguments— and thus belies history by making the author of De Docta Ignorantia appear as someone mindlessly unable to develop even the semblance of a systematic line of thought.. (shrink)

Il volume ripercorre lo sviluppo del pensiero del giovane Nicola Cusano dalla frequentazione del maestro albertista Eimerico da Campo presso l’Università di Colonia (1425) e dal confronto con le posizioni filosofiche dei domenicani dello Studium coloniense, fino agli anni della maturità a Roma (1450). Il saggio illustra il contesto storico-culturale della genesi del De docta ignorantia, testo che suggella la presa di distanza di Cusano dal proprio passato universitario ma anche, al contempo, la sua insoddisfazione nei confronti dell’umanesimo (...) diffuso in Italia negli anni del Concilio di Ferrara-Firenze; e lo segue nella sua ‘caccia della Sapienza’, nell’incontro con differenti tradizioni e contesti, fino alla formulazione dell’ideale del ‘Socrate cristiano’ nell’Idiota. Il volume, riccamente documentato anche sul piano della storia delle interpretazioni e degli studi su Cusano, contribuisce a far luce sulla formazione del suo pensiero e sulle questioni che ne hanno segnato la vita. (shrink)

One of the basic elements of Nicholas of Cusa's philosophy of mathematics is his theory of mathematical objects as “entities-of-reason” (entia rationis). He refers to these as being “abstracted from sensible things”. That is why it is possible to assume that Nicholas bases his theory of mathematics on Aristotle's philosophy of mathematics. Aristotle too describes mathematical objects as coming into being through abstraction (ex aphaireseos). The author analyses Cusa's understanding of abstraction in De docta ignorantia and De mente (...) and tries to show that – according to Nicholas of Cusa – the abstraction, which is ens rationis, simultaneously stimulates the human mind to produce mathematical objects from within itself. The author attempts to show how Cusa's philosophy of mathematics is not directly based on Aristotle's philosophy of mathematics – Aristotle is not an abstractionist and does not ascribe the existence of mathematical objects to the mind of the mathematician – but on the abstractionist interpretation of Aristotle by Alexander of Aphodisias, who was followed by the predominantly neoplatonist commentators of Aristotle. These commentators did not see any important differences in the metaphysical or epistemological underpinnings of abstractionism and the so-called projectionism, i.e. the theory according to which mathematical objects pre-exist in the soul. (shrink)

La metafisica de Nicolás de Cusapresentada, por primeira vez, en su obra capitalDe docta ignorantia presenta como una desus nociones fundantes la ldea de Máximo absolutosegún la cual la maximldad, por ser tal,carece de toda relación. Así pues, el Máximoabsoluto debe ser concebido en coincidencia consu opuesto, el mlnimo absoluto - coinc:identiaoppositorum - y, al mismo tiempo, puesto quenada se le opone, co-irnplicando en sí mismotodas las cosas - complicatio absoluta - sln sernlnguna de ellas de modo singular. (...) De estamanera, el Máximo resulta la forma única universalde todo lo real y lo posible. las ideas en e!Lógos divino, noción que atraviesa diversasexpresiones dei neoplatonismo cristiano, aparecenaqui unificadas e igualadas en una únicaesencia, que es el mismo Logos, que "corre" portodas las cosas y es su quididad absoluta. Estapresentación nos conduce necesariarnente a lapregunta por la constitución de la singularidad ypor la predicación universal acerca de estoasingulares. A la primera pregunta respondeNicolás con la doctrina de la "contracción"; a lasegunda debemos responder nosotros reconstruyendola idea cusana de des-velarniento deimuno que lleva a cabo la humana mens a partirdei entramado nocional de géneros y especies.Esta construcción nocional llevará al Cusano allamar al hombre "segundo dios". (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Philosophy 42.2 (2004) 220-221 [Access article in PDF] Clyde Lee Miller. Reading Cusanus: Metaphor and Dialectic in a Conjectural Universe. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2003. Pp. viii + 276. Cloth, $64.95. In an age where the idea of postmodernity gains more and more ground, the period of postmodern thinking has turned into a major challenge to the human mind. Whereas the (...) project of modernity revokes itself through the contradictions it has generated, the need to find new perspectives makes us wonder what happened in the 15th century when the Renaissance paved the way to modernity and still contained seeds of alternative developments which for one reason or another did not get a chance to germinate. This is an invitation to concentrate on the work of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) as one of the major Renaissance thinkers.Miller's book is an attempt to promote the understanding of Cusanus by a close reading of six of the major works of this author. In reading these works he focuses on Cusan thought both as this thought presents itself in these works, and as it appears against the background of traditional philosophy, especially when seen in the light of the Neoplatonic tradition.The works in question are the books On Learned Ignorance (De docta ignorantia) and On Conjectures (De coniecturis), aptly presented under the title: "Envisiong the Whole," and "Conjecturing Oneness and Otherness" respectively. The remaining four works concern the The Layman: About Mind (Idiota de mente) in which Cusanus develops his understanding of the mind and of intellectual authenticity; The Vision of God (De visione Dei), a treatise on mystical theology and an invitation to enter the divine mystery through a combination of prayer and reflection; On the Not Other (De non aliud), a highly speculative work on divine immanence and transcendence; and The Hunt for Wisdom (De venatione sapientiae) in which Cusanus gives an account of his philosophy by connecting it with the metaphor of a hunt in ten different fields. [End Page 220]Miller begins his book with an Introduction in which he outlines his approach to Cusanus, taking the cue from Plato's image of the divided line with its emphasis on the dialectical distinction between noesis (intellect) and dianoia (reason), and from the dialogue On the Hidden God (De Deo abscondito), a brief discussion between a Heathen and a Christian in which Cusanus connects the theme of learned ignorance with the act of adoration. The distinction between reason and intellect is important because the work of Cusanus is a continuous effort to cope with the meaning of distinctions and their impact on our ways of thinking. The reference to the dialogue is significant because this text clearly indicates that the quest for God is the central issue in the thought of Cusanus, and that the notion of ignorance is actually connected with the theoretical and practical meaning of God.In his discussion of the six works Miller follows the text of Cusanus which he presents in the form of argumentative summaries and complementary reflections. His presentation is lucid and to the point. In his reflections on the text and context of Cusan thought he gives valuable insights into the historical position of Cusanus and the manner in which Nicholas appropriated and transformed traditional ways of thinking. At the same time Miller keeps track of the reception of Cusanus by contemporary scholarship and the various interpretations it has to offer.The book ends with a "reprise" of the previous chapters which provides "an overall perspective on Nicholas' thought and its main themes and proposals" (241). The central elements of this perspective are "the metaphysics of the Infinite and the finite" (242) and the doctrine of perspectival relations as it has been developed in De coniecturis. What connects them with one another finds expression in the distinction (and transition) between explanatory and exploratory metaphors (252); that is, between metaphors such as "image-exemplar" and "unfolding-enfolding," which provide explanatory structures for the interpretation of reality, and metaphors such... (shrink)

En este trabajo se pretende hacer un recorrido por la obra de Nicolás de Cusa y fijarse en lo que podríamos llamar "piedras angulares" sobre las que va a descansar La Docta Ignorantia y para conseguirlo tendremos que hablar de métodos, de la "coincidencia de los opuestos", del universo como explicatio Dei y terminar con Jesucristo como mediador entre lo finito y lo infinito.

Cet article se propose d’étudier quelques chapitres du Centheologicon d’Heymeric de Campo consacrés aux doctrines de Nicolas de Cues. La relation d’amitié entre les deux philosophes rend compte de leur mutuelle influence doctrinale et de la convergence de leurs perspectives philosophiques. L’analyse de cinq chapitres du Centheologicon, dont la source est Nicolas de Cues, permettra d’évaluer la correspondance théorique réelle entre ces chapitres et les ouvrages cusaniens. L’étude met en avant la consonance doctrinale des deux auteurs qui partagent la même (...) conception unitaire et universelle du savoir humain. (shrink)

Філософія доби Відродження, а саме XV–XVI ст., передбачає наявність світоглядних детермінант, що мають глибинний герметичний смисл. З розвитком гуманітарного знання необхідним стає прагнення визначити послідовність суджень теоретичного й наукового змісту. Людина як специфічний мікро-макрокосм у площині буття дістає універсальні риси, пов’язані з визначенням метафізичних основ пантеїстичної діалектики. М. Кузанський вибудовує комплекс ідей пантеїстичного і магічного розуміння природи, що уособлює ідею вічного творення. Автор статті захищає тезу, згідно з якою теоретична спадщина мислителя має значення для поглиблення внутрішніх зв’язків між отологічними і (...) теоретико-пізнавальними детермінантами гуманістичної традиції. (shrink)