Nicholas of Cusa did experimental studies on problems in the natural sciences (for example, an experiment to determine the weight of a growing plant), proposed a calendar reform, and drew a map of Central and Eastern Europe. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. The infinite figure obtained by such coincidence is the “form” and “model” for any specific geometric figure. English translations include Paul E. Sigmund's The Catholic Concordance (Cambridge, 1991), H. Lawrence Bond's Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings (New York, 1997), and Jasper Hopkins's Complete Philosophical and Theological Treatises of Nicholas Cusa, 2 vols. Certainly he wrote extensively about the subject, in particular on the properties of circles, but it is primarily as a philosopher and mystic that he is remembered. By rational investigation we can draw ever nearer to him but cannot reach him. Finally a break came over the question of a site for a proposed council for reunion with the Greeks. Not only did he opposed Aristotle's views that Earth centered Universe, but he also argued for the existence of extraterrestrials. His works were widely read for several centuries, and they influenced the philosophy of the Renaissance and of early modern times. Certainly he was not the first to see the discipline in those terms: Pythagoras (c. 580-c. 500 b.c. 1 (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1949); Opera Omnia, 14 vols. (October 1, 2020). He is also their "unfolding" (explicatio ) because they come forth from him. Continue on the next sectionof the 's biography... Nicholas of CusaKues, Electorate of Trier, Holy Roman Empire. (In the spirit of the negative theology of the Areopagite’s works, the “maximum,” “not other,” and “being-potential” turn out to be, in Nicholas of Cusa’s works, different designations or “names” for a transcendent god.) The works penned in Rome in the last years of his life—De non aliud (1462), De venatione sapientiae (1463), De ludo globi (1464), and De apice theoriae (1464)—reflect, for the most part, conversations in the household circle of his friends and young associates. Rather than think that so many stars and parts of the heavens are uninhabited and that this earth of ours alone is peopled - and that with beings perhaps of an inferior type - we will suppose that in every region there are inhabitants, differing in nature by rank and allowing their origin to God, who is the center and circumference of all stellar regions. In this case, however, there are no mirrors. In the winter of 1437–38, he was a member of the papal legation to Constantinople to win the Greek emperor and the hierarchy of the Greek Church over to the papal plan and to bring them to Italy. According to Nicholas, "our intellect, which is not the truth, never grasps the truth with such precision that it could not be comprehended with infinitely greater precision" (De Docta Ignorantia I, 3). The philosophical substantiation of church dogmas undertaken by him contains a distinctive dialectic of myth in the spirit of Neoplatonism. If the universe is evidenced in the individual, the latter is similarly representative of the universe. In it he shows himself as an early skeptic, holding that true wisdom lies in a clear awareness of the limitations of human knowledge. Without enumerating these, one may say that Nicholas was an influential adviser of Pius II. In his most lasting workDe Docta Ignorantia (on learned ignorance)published in 1440, he argued against the possibility of definitive knowledge. With the aid of this principle he believed that he, though a mathematical dilettante, could solve the twofold problem of the quadrature of the circle and the transformation of a circular arc into its length by simple construction. e. meuthen, Die letzten Jahre des Nikolaus von Kues (Cologne 1958). Nicholas developed this first in the light of man's knowledge of God. The infinite is an absolute, and the absolute cannot be known by means of relations or comparisons. Nicholas studied jurisprudence, mathematics, and the natural sciences. Cusa), part of the town Bernkastel-Kues on the Moselle, Diocese of Treves (Trier), Germany, 1401; d. Todi in Umbria, Italy, Aug. 11, 1464. . https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nicholas-cusa, Duclow, Donald "Nicholas of Cusa Nicholas, however, went further, speaking of man as a "human god" and a "second god." Thus, knowledge of these things, which is an infinite approximation to the truth that lies in the absolute, is attained by means of “conjectures,” or “hypotheses”—a priori acts of human reason (On Conjecture, 1440). This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. The names of these perfections as they are ascribed to God are all metaphorical. Through intellect, humanity can approach perfect wisdom but can never achieve it. Participating in God's creative activity, humanity also creates a cultural world. . For example, according to the principle of negation of negation (On the Not Other, 1462), the absolute “not other” is the “other” of “an other,” which in itself defines both itself and the other and surpasses both affirmation and negation, being an “affirmation of affirmation.”. During the period from 1432 to 1434, Nicholas worked on, and submitted to the council, his famous political treatise, De concordantia Catholica, which deals with the problem of the respective roles of councils and popes in the government of the Church. His leaving the conciliar radicals and joining forces with the pope was a decisive point in his life. (October 1, 2020). At some time between 1436 and 1440 he was ordained a priest. His biographers emphasize his tolerance, his advocacy of freedom of thought, and his attempts to resist the extremes of papal absolutism. His biographers emphasize his tolerance, his advocacy of freedom of thought, and his attempts to resist the extremes of papal absolutism. In 1460 he ran afoul of the unscrupulous Duke Sigmund of Austria and the Tyrol with regard to church authority. Knowledge is learned ignorance (docta ignorantia). 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