Absolute vision and vision of the Absolute in Nicholas of Cusa
Claudia D’AMICO
Original title: Visión absoluta y visión de lo absoluto en Nicolás de Cusa
Published in Mystic and Millenarianism in Middle Ages
Keywords: Absolute vision, Middle Ages, Mystical vision, Neoplatonism, Nicholas of Cusa.
Introducing the topic of the mystical vision, Nicholas of Cusa becomes the heir of the Neoplatonic tradition while he supposes as the foundation of such a view the same absolute vision. However, his thought is characterized by a parallelism between absolute and human vision to the point that the man can make himself visible the vision of God only by means of selfcontemplation of the dynamism of his own vision.
Colors in the work of Nicholas of Cusa
Marica COSTIGLIOLO
Original title: I colori nell’opera di Niccolò Cusano
Published in Mirabilia Journal 31 (2020/2)
Keywords: Art, Colors, Middle Ages, Nicholas of Cusa, Perception.
When we think about colour and its meanings, we must consider the historical path that colours have gone through, and how they have changed over the course of history. Until the seventeenth century, those who dealt with the perception of colour mainly analyzed its nature, its organization in a system of relationships. From Newton onwards, the understanding of colour is analyzed starting from the relationship of the mechanisms of vision and perception. In Nicholas of Cusa work, we find both perspectives. On the one hand, Cusanus is interested in the mechanism of sight, on the other hand there are numerous metaphors with light and divine light. The philosopher's discourse therefore addresses both an analysis of the mechanism of perception and a broader discourse that becomes a theological and mystical metaphor. In this sense, his work proves to be a rich source also in the context of the history of colours and in general in the history of art.
Considerations on Nicholas of Cusa’s De genesi. Thinking beyond the coincidentia oppositorum in light of the enigmatic name “idem”
José GONZÁLEZ RÍOS
Original title: Consideraciones en torno al De genesi de Nicolás de Cusa. Pensar más allá de la coincidentia oppositorum a la luz del nombre enigmático “idem”
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: De genesi, Nicholas of Cusa, Thinking beyond the coincidentia oppositorum, “Idem”.
In De docta ignorantia (1440), Nicholas of Cusa presents the first comprehensive formulation of his system of thought. In De coniecturis, which he began writing at the time, he not only completes the anthropology and theory of knowledge, which he suggested in De docta ignorantia, but also presents the proposal of thinking the divine beyond thecoincidentia oppositorum. In the following years, he writes a group of opuscula in which he revists the topics treated in his previous works. Notorious amongst them is the dialog De genesi (1447). In it, Cusanus speculates on one of the most cherished subjects of his investigation, i.e. the relationship between the one and the multiple, by means of a new aenigmatic name: “idem”. Our work seeks to show that Nicholas of Cusa conjectures about that problem –in terms of identity and difference– in taking up his proposal of thinking the absolute beyond the coincidentia oppositorum.
Grasping the Divine essence: Cusanus (1401-1464) and Wenck (†1460)
Marica COSTIGLIOLO
Published in The Kingdom of the Spirit
Keywords: Dialogue, Difference, Nicholas of Cusa, Transcendence.
In this aim, I analyse some theories of De docta ignorantia (1440) of Nicholas of Cusa, criticized by Johannes Wenck. Some interesting themes emerge from the dispute between Cusanus and Wenck: for example, on the threshold of modernity the way thinkers use concepts and words to define transcendence, time, difference. Through this dispute, the end of the Middle Ages appears as a rich intellectual period and a harbinger of continuous insights and new interpretations.
Interreligious Dialogue before and after Nicholas of Cusa: an Exegetical Approach
Marica COSTIGLIOLO
Original title: Interreligious Dialogue before and after Nicholas of Cusa: an Exegetical Approach
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Exegesis, Hermeneutic, Interreligious Dialogue, Nicholas of Cusa, Rites.
In this article my aim is a philosophical reflection on a history of interreligious dialogue from the perspective of the dialectical relation between rites of different religions: given that rite is one of the most essential aspects of religions, it should be profitable to examine the significance of rites in light of interreligious dialogue. First, I will explain some theories about religions' difference. I will analyse texts written by Christian and Jewish authors from the Middle Ages to the Modern period in order to compare the crucial role of rite in philosophical and religious discourse among different chronological and cultural panoramas. Among the authors who wrote outstanding works focused on the relations between Islam and Christendom, I wish to mention in particular Nicholas of Cusa, who wrote the De pace fidei, one of the most famous interreligious dialogue in the Middle Ages. The following paragraph of my article is on a 12th century Jewish scholar, Judah Halevi, who wrote the book Kitab al Khazari (Sefer ha-Kuzari, in Hebrew), which is considered one of the most polemical and well-known medieval works and a source of Ramon Llull (1235-1315), the most relevant source of the De pace fidei. The second paragraph is on Aberlard, who, like Cusanus, wrote his Dialogus inter philosophum, Judaeum et Christianum in a period of conflicts and violence. Like De pace fidei Abelard’s dialogue is a work of the author’s maturity which deals with the theme of rational and intellectual knowledge as an instrument of confrontation between different confessions. I will analyse the theme of rites in this Abelard's work. I will also take a look of the work of Lessing, to highlight the fundamental role of transmission of traditions and rites for the construction of a specific religious identity.
Man’s “knowledge” and “ignorance” for God in the teaching of Gregory of Nyssa and Nicholas of Cusa
Eirini ARTEMI
Original title: Man’s “knowledge” and “ignorance” for God in the teaching of Gregory of Nyssa and Nicholas of Cusa
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Gregory of Nyssa, Knowledge of God, Nicholas of Cusa, Ousia, attributes.
The knowledge of God has been the main subject of the theological teaching since the expanding of the Christian doctrine and teaching. Ecclesiastical writers as Gregory of Nyssa and Nicholas of Cusa accept that the knowledge about God is conventional and symbolic (deliberately). His attributes are known, however His essence “ousia” is not known. God is in finite. He is unlimited in every kind of perfection or that every conceivable perfection belongs to Him in the highest conceivable way. God is self-existent and does not depend on any thing else for his existence. The biblical I am that I am. Related to divine immutability: God does not undergo any change. God is externally related to the world: no event in the world has any effect on God. God conforms to the substance metaphysics of Greek philosophy. A substance is independent, self- contained, and self - sufficient. Man knows only the God’s attributes and not His “ousia”. This happens, because the finite human mind cannot grasp the essence of the infinite God. Besides God is unknowledgeable and inconceivable to His “ousia” while He is knowledgeable and comprehendible to His energies. It is clear that it only is possible for man to acquire indistinct “amydros” and weak “asthenis” vision of God according to his attributes “ta kathautou”. In this article, we are going to examine this knowledge and vision of God through the writings of eastern and western ecclesiastical writers, Gregory of Nyssa and Nicholas of Cusa.
Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue in year 1453: theatral dimension and dialogical significance of De pace fidei and De visione Dei
João Maria ANDRÉ
Original title: Nicolau de Cusa em diálogo no ano de 1453: dimensão teatral e carácter dialógico do De pace fidei e do De visione Dei
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Dialogue, Nicholas of Cusa, Philosophy of Language.
In this article, we propose an approach of two works of Nicholas of Cusa written in the year 1453: De pace fidei and De visione Dei. First, is conceptualized its theatral dimension from the devices convocated in each of this two texts. Such devices show how the dialogical dimension, if it is the exposition form in some works of Nicolas of Cusa, it’s also present in texts that do not have the dialogue form. Second, we call the attention to the philosophy and theology of word and language implicitly or explicitly developed in these two works.
Nicholas of Cusa in dialogue with his sources: the redefinition of Platonism
Claudia D’AMICO
Original title: Nicolás de Cusa en diálogo con sus fuentes: la re-definición del platonismo
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Medieval Platonism, Nicholas of Cusa, Sources.
This paper presents the Cusanus’s thought given its knowledge of the Platonic tradition considering its Christian version –Dionysius, Scotus Eriugena, the Chartrenses, Meister Eckhart, Bertold of Moosburg – as some authors Athenian Neoplatonism, especially Proclus. The text is divided into three points (I) the presence of this tradition in early works; (II) the defense of these sources in the Apologia doctae ignorantiae; (III) the reinterpretation of tradition from new receiving texts from 1450.
Possest: indications for thinking relationality principle in Nicholas of Cusa
José TEIXEIRA NETO
Original title: Possest: indicações para se pensar a relacionalidade do princípio em Nicolau de Cusa
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Nicholas of Cusa, Possest, Unitrinity.
We hope to achieve with the term possest one name, like other divine names, leading to the understanding of the principle. In this case, more specifically, we believe that possest indicates as enigma, the trinity of principle and further speculates that leads to the nexus that shows how key element to understanding this same unitrinity and, therefore, the idea of the first principle in itself is relational. Among all cusanus works the term “possest” only appears in three texts called “late period”. Appears on De apice theoriae (1464) probably the last work written by Nicholas of Cusa. In turn, the De venatione sapientiae (1463) the possest will be the second field, immediately after and before the learned ignorance of non aliud, which takes hunting wisdom. The themes taken up in De venatione sapientiae been deeply addressed in De possest (1460) that constitutes as a “trialogue” between Nicholas of Cusa , Bernardo of Krayburg, chancellor of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and John André Vigevio, secretary of Nicholas and then bishop of Aleria.
The Love as the greatest virtue in the Sermons of Nicholas of Cusa
Maria Simone Marinho NOGUEIRA
Original title: O Amor como a maior das virtudes nos Sermões de Nicolau de Cusa
Published in Nicholas of Cusa in Dialogue
Keywords: Love, Nicholas of Cusa, Sermons, Virtue.
Nicholas of Cusa approached the theme of love throughout his philosophical-theological work. A part of this work, however, deserves our special attention when we analyze this theme. We refer to the Sermons: in various moments of his life the German Thinker has prepared and preached these writings. We propose, from them, a reflection on the love as the greatest of virtues.
