De Docta Ignorantia Research Articles

DISTINCIÓN E INDISTINCIÓN DEL EJEMPLAR Y LA IMAGEN

Dos años después de la publicación de De docta ignorantia aparece un texto acusatorio, De ignota litteratura (1442) de Iohannes Wenck. En este texto, Wenck afirma que la propuesta del Cusano comete en muchos casos los mismos errores de algunas doctrinas condenadas, entre otras la de Meister Eckhart. El artículo aborda especialmente la objeción que aparece como “cuarta conclusión” que atiende al tema de la identidad entre el ejemplar y la imagen y las consecuencias relativas a la posibilidad de divinización del alma. A partir de esto, explicita la noción de imagen en Meister Eckhart a fin de trazar algunos vínculos de semejanza y diferencia con lo presentado por el Cusano en el escrito cuestionado y consecuentemente extraer algunas conclusiones acerca de la consideración del objetor.

La imagen de la sphaera infinita del anónimo Liber XXIV philosophorum en la maxima doctrina ignorantiae de Nicolás de Cusa

The present article explores the theological and cosmological aspects of the Liber XXIV philosophorum’s image of the sphaera infinita in De docta ignorantia of Nicholas of Cusa. The paper is structured as follows. First, I describe the Liber, specifically focusing on its Definition II. Secondly, I address Nicholas of Cusa’s reception of the Liber, analyzing the strictly theological use of the sphaera infinita’s image in De docta ignorantia I. Thirdly, I study the cosmological use of said image in De docta ignorantia II. Finally, I examine the sphaera infinita’s passage from the theological to the cosmological domain in the maxima doctrina ignorantiae, and against most of the hegemonic scholarship, I show that the use of the image in the Cusan cosmology remains strictly theological.

Alteridad, número y reflexión trinitaria en Nicolás de Cusa

This article addresses the concomitant negativity regarding alterity in cusanian thought and the possibility of recognizing the traces of the unitrinity principle in the finite. To achieve this, (i) it is analysed the negative verification of alterity in the metaphysics of finitude linked to contingency; (ii) it is described the articulating function that the number plays in the understanding of finitude as created multiplicity by the first principle, God, insofar as this creation is a deployment of the divine number’s potency; finally, (ii) it is analysed the place that alterity has in the trinitarian argumentation of the first book of De docta ignorantia, with which it will be shown how alterity opens up a space for a consideration of the first principle that, although it excludes from itself all alterity, at the same time, grounds the totality.

Mathematical theologies: Nicholas of Cusa and the legacy of Thierry of Chartres

Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Toward a Genealogy of Christian Neopythagoreanism PART ONE The Genesis of Neopythagoreanism: A Synopsis 1. Platonic Transformations of Early Pythagorean Philosophy 2. The Neopythagorean Revival: Henology and Mediation 3. The Late Antique Preservation of Neopythagoreanism PART TWO The Pearl Diver: Thierry of Chartres's Theology of the Quadrivium 5. The Discovery of Folding 6. Thierry's Diminished Legacy PART THREE Bright Nearness: Nicholas of Cusa's Mathematical Theology 7. The Accidental Triumph of De docta ignorantia 8. Chartrian Theology on Probation in the 1440s 9. The Advent of theologia geometrica in the 1450s 10. Completing the Circle in the 1460s Epilogue Bibliography

The Interreligious Dialogue in De docta ignorantia of Nicholas of Cusa

This article explains the method followed by Nicolaus Cusanus (Nicholas of Cusa, 1401–1464) to develop the theme of difference in relation to identity, and the way in which, following this perspective, Cusanus first comes to formulate a discourse of interreligious dialogue. We can interpret the theory on conjecturality expounded by Cusanus in De docta ignorantia as a system of thought that proves essential to understand the irenic model of De pace fidei, because it is in virtue of this metaphysical assumption that he affirms that absolute truth cannot be reached and infinity is incomprehensible to all. By developing the theme of concordantia differentiarum (concordance of differences), Cusanus elaborates in De docta ignorantia the theme of the coincidentia oppositorum (coincidence of opposites). In exploring this connection, I shall consider his work for the purpose of underlining the relevance of the themes of identity and difference to the focus on interreligious dialogue.

Renovatio et Unitas—Nikolaus von Kues als Reformer. Theorie und Praxis der reformatio im 15. Jahrhundert Ed. by Thomas Frank and Norbert Winkler (review)

Renovatio et Unitas-Nikolaus von Kues als Reformer: Theorie und Praxis der reformatio im 15. Jahrhundert. Edited by Thomas Frank and Norbert Winkler. [Berliner Mittelalter- und Fruhneuzeitforschung, Band 13 ] (Gottingen:V & R unipress, an imprint ofVandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2012. Pp. 253. ISBN 978-3-89971-962-8.)This volume originated in a February 2011 workshop and a fall 2011 conference at Free University at Berlin. The authors attempted to bridge gap between philosophical and historical perspectives, between vita activa and contemplativa in Nicholas of Cusa and in context of his writings situated between medieval and early-modern eras. The result is ten contributions on various aspects of renovatio, unitas, and reformatio .The emphasis is on concrete reform initiatives with reflection on theoretical implications of reformatio. The introduction points out shift from reformatio as personal improvement in earlier Middle Ages (see Gerhart Ladner's The Idea of Reform, Cambridge, MA, 1959) to later ideas of structural-social change and Janus perspective of looking back to a golden age and forward to wrath of God to come unless reform occurred. For Cusa, there were conceptual reform, personal renewal, and process of ridding institutions of abuses. In last part of his life after collapse of Council of Basel and external reform, Cusa turned more to interior reform.The first study by Hans Gerhard Senger puts Cusa's dilemma in context of controversies with Hussites-the issue of unity versus renewal/reform-and this Bohemian question stayed with Cusa for last thirty years of his life. For him, truth of Church ontologically was rooted in its unity. Interestingly, he wrote on renovation in his sermons but not in his other writings. Renovatio could never be a valid ground for breaking unity, and so reform was not an issue if division then occurred.Isabelle Mandrella treats reform dealings and speculative thought in Cusa, who had been asked for guidance by monks at Tegernsee. It took him thirty years to finish his tract De Beryllo, and his De docta ignorantia presents in a highly theoretical and abstract manner his thoughts on active and contemplative life; freedom; and concepts of new, obedience, and one and while referring to story of Martha and Mary. For Cusa, the many is always unstable, and so unity is norm for thinker and reformer. He looks at striving for knowledge and truth as a dynamic and always renewed process, and so one must be open to new to reach a better understanding. Man is called to go beyond here and now of self-will to true freedom of God's will.Norbert Winkler's discussion of link of Cusa to Meister Eckhart is centered in Christological concerns that arose about Eckhart. In a dense and complex analysis Winkler explores some facets of this story: Eckhart's condemnation in 1329, role of ideas of Albertus Magnus, tension mbetween Aristotelian worldview and neo-Platonist/Hermetic thought, influence ofTauler and Suso, and discussions on formal analogy and idea of participation. He presents seeing and knowing as one and same for Eckhart and Cusa, and it is God's seeing that holds creature in its being, whereas for Cusa, human only sees through a glass darkly. For mankind, Christ is teacher of complete wisdom, for he alone is fully homo divinus. For Eckhart and Cusa, real enemy to be conquered is that self-love that is opposed to love of God and of other.For Thomas Leinkauf, Cusa, unlike later figures, did not see himself as a reformer, since he did not desire to throw out old. He expressed Greek ideas as ones changed by Judeo-Christian thought-in God, possible being and actual being are absolutely in one; God was basic ground of all being. He followed Ss.Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure in his thoughts on potentia absoluta Dei and potentia ordinata Dei. …

Jovino de Guzman Miroy, Tracing Nicholas of Cusa’s early development: the relationship between De concordantia catholica and De docta ignorantia

Jovino de Guzman Miroy, Tracing Nicholas of Cusa’s early development: the relationship between De concordantia catholica and De docta ignorantia

MYSTERY?

MYSTERY?

Tracing Nicholas of Cusa’s Early Development: The Relationship between De concordantia catholica and De docta ignorantia (review)

Reviewed by: Tracing Nicholas of Cusa’s Early Development: The Relationship between De concordantia catholica and De docta ignorantia David Albertson Tracing Nicholas of Cusa’s Early Development: The Relationship between De concordantia catholica and De docta ignorantia. By Jovino De Guzman Miroy. [Philosophes Médiévaux, Tome 49.] (Leuven: Éditions Peeters. 2009. Pp. x, 314. €74,00 paperback. ISBN 978-9-042-92039-2.) According to the author of this careful study, the key to unlocking the controversy of Nicholas of Cusa’s development prior to his 1440 treatise, De docta ignorantia, is to challenge the dichotomy between political philosophy and theology. Cusanus wrote a lengthy conciliarist treatise in 1433 during the Council of Basel, De concordantia catholica, but thereafter produced mostly philosophical and mystical works. But as Miroy points out, this shift in genre should not prejudice readers against seeking out the philosophical foundations of the cardinal’s ecclesiological positions or the political implications of his later writings. The first chapter is an astute outline of late-medieval conciliar theory, followed by three chapters analyzing the political philosophy informing De concordantia catholica and two chapters sketching a “political reading” of De docta ignorantia and the Letter to Rodrigo de Arévalo of 1442. In the Dionysian vision of De concordantia catholica, the Church’s unity is expressed through linked hierarchies emanating from the divine origin. [End Page 533] Miroy argues that Cusanus’s distinctive “metaphysics of concordance” is the true theoretical fulcrum of his conciliarism and that the cardinal used a more scriptural and theological mode of argument than others using canon law alone. After weighing the term’s nuances, Miroy defines concordance as “harmony among unequal members” (p. 105). Miroy therefore disagrees with Paul Sigmund’s view that the treatise attempts to harmonize equality and hierarchy. Rather, equalitas plays little role in the text, and it is concordantia that keeps hierarchy from becoming anti-egalitarian. Since equalitas figures prominently in later Cusan works, Miroy’s insight here is valuable. Miroy thinks that the conciliarist ecclesiology centered on concordantia betrays certain philosophical predilections. Its principled theological objections to papal supremacy reveal a general suspicion about the localization of any absolute. “Cusanus robbed the pope of plenitude of power, but not merely to transfer that to the council. Cusanus knew that no finite reality could have fullness of power, and so he established a true seat of absolute power, namely, the absolute itself” (p. 126). This attitude toward absolutes resonates with the philosophy of De docta ignorantia. The final chapter on De concordantia catholica has two parts. The first details the powers distributed to pope, council, and empire, and will interest students of medieval political theory. The second denies that Cusanus was an eccentric outlier at Basel by comparing him to two prominent conciliarists, Heimericus de Campo and John of Segovia. This interesting section would have enriched the introductory discussion of Basel in chapter 1. The curious nexus between Cusanus’s early development and his relationship with Heimericus deserves further study. Miroy’s contribution would be enhanced by incorporating Florian Hamann’s recent scholarship. In chapter VI, Miroy locates conceptual continuities between concordantia in 1433 and the new terms (contractio and coincidentia among others) appearing in 1440. In the earlier treatise, concordantia names the harmonious unity within God that enables harmonious unity within cosmic and ecclesial hierarchies. In the later treatise, God enjoys a unique kind of coincident harmony, and the cosmic hierarchies achieve their harmonious diversity through their contracted nature. Whether these similarities represent two examples of Cusanus’s abiding interests in dialectical unity, or an authentic conceptual “development,” is difficult to say and would require further analysis. Miroy’s explanations of difficult terms frequently condense pages of Cusan obscurity into brilliantly lucid formulae. Although further revision might have obviated repetitions and focused attention on the most central material, this fine book will be important reading for students of Cusanus. David Albertson University of Southern California Copyright © 2010 The Catholic University of America Press

Form and Transformation: Christiformitas in Nicholas of Cusa

Nicholas of Cusa (1401–64) was a fifteenth-century German thinker and ecclesiastic best known today for his philosophical/theological writings, in particular De docta ignorantia (On learned ignorance). With the recent completion in 2005 of the Heidelberg critical edition of his works, all of his 293 sermons have been published. These varied sermons fill out a picture of his pastoral thinking and practices that complements the more theoretical treatises and dialogues. In this essay, a single pervasive theme, conformity to Christ (christiformitas), may illustrate both the richness of Nicholas’s sermons and the back-and-forth between his more theoretical ideas and his preaching. “Conformity to Christ”—christiformitas—is mentioned by Nicholas of Cusa from his earliest writings and preaching. He remarked near the end of his best-known work, De docta ignorantia, that the power of faith is such that it brings it about (efficit) or transforms a human being so that she or he is “christiform” (bk. 3, chap. 11). Two other themes in his preaching and writing go hand-in-hand with christiformitas, that of theosis/deificatio/filiatio and that of fides formata caritate (literally, “faith formed by love”). Just how does Nicholas develop the theme of christiformitas in his sermons?

All-Unity according to V. Soloviev and S. Frank. A Comparative Analysis

All-Unity according to V. Soloviev and S. Frank. A Comparative Analysis

Die Rede vom verborgenen Gott. Eine Untersuchung zu Nikolaus von Kues mit einem Blick auf Martin Luther

Der 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 (und damit der Nichtbeweisbarkeit) 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.

Ein Erkenntnismodell des Nikolaus von Kues und der Grad der Bewährung einer wissenschaftlichen Hypothese

The degree of corroboration of a scientific hypothesis is an issue that has been repeatedly discussed in modern theory of sciences (e. g. Popper, 1969). In a preceding paper (Grusser 1983) it was shown that the formulae advanced by Popper to calculate the degree of corroboration C (h, e) are not very satisfactory because the probability values required in the computation of C (h, e) are not available as a rule. Another equation to measure (or define) the degree of corroboration B (h, e) was proposed (eq. (1)), 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 (1401–1464) in his book “De docta ignorantia” had proposed a model of scientific “verisimilitude” which leads to a quite similar relationship between B (h, e) and the number n of independent proofs or observations. The “polygonal” model of verisimilitude (eq.(4)) mentioned by Cusanus is presumably the first quantitative estimate proposed for this problem in philosophical literature.

Nicholas of Cusa's Metaphysics of Contraction (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 103 others, Chadwick's own interest centers mainly around the fifth tractate, "Against Eutyches and Nestorins," concerning the technical meaning of "nature" and "person" in Christ as defined by the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon 08o-2o2). In this conflict he sees Catholic orthodoxy to be the middle course between the Scylla of Nestorianism and the Charybdis of Monophysitism. This chapter is Chadwick's best contribution to the history of theology. The last and shortest chapter (~23-53) entitled "Evil, Freedom, and Providence" deals with the famous Consolationof Philosophy"as a personal and private confession of humanist faith and of confidence in divine providence" (55). Although in my opinion this is the least satisfactory and least documented chapter, Chapwick at least draws from the fuller commentary ofJoachim Gruber 0978) in presenting a very reasonable and balanced picture of Boethius' religion as he faced death. The brevity of this scene should be seen in the light of the earlier discussion of the downfall and last days of Boethius (46-68) to appreciate the man who sought consolation in philosophy. JAMES A. WEISHEIPL, O.P. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Jasper Hopkins. Nicholas of Cusa's Metaphysics of Contraction. Minneapolis: Arthur J. Banning Press, x983. Pp. x + 197. $~3.oo, cloth. Nicholas's De dato patris luminum appears in English translation as this book's final chapter, Hopkins's fifth translation from the Cusan corpus. He includes an appendix with the original Latin in the Heidelberg critical edition and an extension of his earlier discussion of De doctaignorantia ~, 4-5. All this serves to aid his critique of five extant readings of Cusan metaphysics with the aim of giving "a more accurate, and a more textually oriented, understanding of the main lines of this metaphysic" 034). The polemic against the five readings is devastating; Hopkins's own sketch of the "metaphysic of contraction" opens the way for further questions. The interpretations Hopkins discusses and dismisses all claim fidelity to Nicholas 's ideas. He shows their errors and distortions are too often elementary, even embarrassing, when juxtaposed to Nicholas's texts. As a result Henry Bett's older appreciation of Cusanus is found utterly wanting when it comes to Nicholas's key ideas. Even L. W. Beck's chapter on Nicholas in Early German Philosophy cannot be rescued, whatever the excellence of the rest of that volume. We are left hoping that Walter Schultz and Heinrich Rombach distort Cusanus because they believe him seminal for their own concerns; we may trust that the injustice they do Nicholas does not infect their own ideas. None of them prove trustworthy guides to what Nicholas says. Kiaus Jacobi's Die Methode der cuaanischen Philosophie is a more complicated case. For Hopkins, Jacobi's central mistake about Nicholas's metaphysics leads him both to mistranslate and take literally what the text shows are modi Ioquendi. But Jacobi's book contains much of value, for instance, the helpful historical overview of Cusan scholarship and interpretation. Here Hopkins's critique could have been strengthened ~o4 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 23:1 JANUARY t985 had he traced the relation between Rombach and Jacobi and acknowledged what is to be learned from Jacobi somewhere besides in various endnotes. The most valuable aspect of Hopkins's polemics can be seen where Hopkins says what Nicholas's doctrine is and why it could not be what these five interpretations claim. What of Hopkins's own reading? For him, Nicholas's ideas never changed essentially from what he laid down in De docta ignorantia. Later works serve to cast light on the early masterpiece and vice versa. Cusanus does not make God and creatures different modes of one and the same being, as Jacobi would have it. Rather, God and creatures belong to ontologically different dimensions. In Hopkins's words: "The infinite and the finite are not two sides of the same reality. Instead, they are different realities----though the one is totally dependent upon the other, in an ultimate sense. The world is a contracted reflectionof God's being; but a reflection of God's being is not God's being--whether contractedly or otherwise" (98). Hopkins takes "contraction...

ON AN ALLEGED DEFINITIVE INTERPRETATION OF PROSLOGION 2–4: A DISCUSSION OF G. SCHUFREIDER'S AN INTRODUCTION TO ANSELM'S ARGUMENT

The Southern Journal of PhilosophyVolume 19, Issue 1 p. 129-139 ON AN ALLEGED DEFINITIVE INTERPRETATION OF PROSLOGION 2–4: A DISCUSSION OF G. SCHUFREIDER'S AN INTRODUCTION TO ANSELM'S ARGUMENT Jasper Hopkins, Jasper Hopkins University of Minnesota Jasper Hopkins (Ph. D., Harvard) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. His two most recent books (1981) are Nicholas of Cusa on Learned Ignorance: A Translation and an Appraisal of De Docta Ignorantia and Nicholas of Cusa's Debate with John Wenck: A Translation and an Appraisal of De Ignota Litterature and Apologia Doctae Ignorantiae.Search for more papers by this author Jasper Hopkins, Jasper Hopkins University of Minnesota Jasper Hopkins (Ph. D., Harvard) is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota. His two most recent books (1981) are Nicholas of Cusa on Learned Ignorance: A Translation and an Appraisal of De Docta Ignorantia and Nicholas of Cusa's Debate with John Wenck: A Translation and an Appraisal of De Ignota Litterature and Apologia Doctae Ignorantiae.Search for more papers by this author First published: Spring 1981 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-6962.1981.tb01417.xCitations: 1 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume19, Issue1Spring 1981Pages 129-139 RelatedInformation

Nicolai de Cusa Opera Omnia III: De Coniecturis ed. by Josef Koch, Karl Bormann

6~0 BOOK REVIEWS Nicolai de Cusa Opera Omnia III: De Coniecturis. Ed. By JosEF Kocn and KARL BoRMANN. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 197~. Pp. ~97. DM ~40. The periodization of history may be a requirement inherent in the historical enterprise itself, but it involves some unavoidable distortion. Thinkers like Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) find themselves relegated to the expiring gasps of the Middle Ages or to the secondary status of mere precursors of a dawning era. Periodization requires its terminal personages, and these are inevitably assigned a marginal importance. But what the historical enterprise has created it can also destroy, and slowly but surely our persective into the no-man's-land of the late 14th-early 15th centuries is developing both in depth and breadth. One example of this development has been the increasing scholarly interest in Ockhamism and the nominalist influence. Another promising sign that our understanding of fifteenth-century culture is being steadily enriched is the remarkable growth of interest in the life and thought of Cusanus. In 193~ the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences embarked on the production of its critical Nicolai de Cusa Opera Omnia. That work might well have been completed by now had it not been interrupted (indeed partially obliterated) by World War II. In the last few years several important additions to this critical Opera have been published, thus bringing the entire project to a point from which completion no longer seems that dim distant dream it did a few short years ago. Along with the progress of the critical edition international interest in Cusanus grows apace. Apart from the incomplete Heidelberg Opera Omnia but in conjunction with it the Felix Meiner Verlag has been publishing a series, Schriften des Nikolaus von Kues in deutscher tJbersetzung. These texts initially did not contain the Latin version but more recent additions to the series are bilingual. The paperback volumes are of convenient size, are fully annotated, and contain substantial introductions by renowed Cusanus scholars. They are ideally suited for seminar work, perhaps even upper division undergraduate study. Furthermore, they make the works of Cusanus accessible to the specialist who is unable to afford the price of the increasingly expensive additions to the critical Opera Omnia. Italian, Portuguese, and even Japanese editions of select philosophical and religious works of Cusanus were published recently and, as unlikely as it may seem, a Japanese Cusanus association has been established! Regretably, English-language works and translations are not nearly as well represented in the Cusanus bibliographies as one might reasonably expect. With the availability of a critical text of Nicholas's works, British and American students of philosophy and religion should be encouraged to turn their attention to their 15th-century forebear. Cusanus studies could profit immeasurably, for example, from language-critical analysis. BOOK REVIEWS 621 With the exception of the De concordantia catholica, a reform document which Nicholas presented to the Council of Basel in 1433 or 1434, the De coniecturis is his longest and most ambitious work. It was written some few years after his famous De docta ignorantia (completed Feburary 12, 1440) and was referred to by name in that earlier, programmatic work. De docta ignorantia had not only raised again the crucial question of man's knowledge of God but had reemphasized the utter disproportion of the finite to the infinite. Compensating that anxiety-raising doctrine is Cusanus's well-known language describing God's relation to the world as a complicatio omnium, language which clearly gives rise to another kind of disquietude. For the consolations offered by pantheism and mystical vision collide at many points with Christian tradition and ecclesiastical authority. Fortunately for Cusanus, his political sagacity and indefatigable energy had won him the red hat and thereby immunized him from the attacks of theologians like Johnannes Wenck. As Josef Koch pointed out some years ago, although Cusanus had envisaged the De coniecturis as an elucidation of several issues presented in De docta ignorantia, by the time he got around to completing De coniecturis his ideas had evolved in the direction of Proclan Neoplatonism, a metamorphosis from a Seinsmetaphysik to an Einheitsmetaphysik. It seems that Nicholas had been introduced to the writings...

Nicholas of Cusa's Idea of Wisdom

Like the Preacher, son of David, Nicholas of Cusa knew that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness and he gave his heart to search it out. In phrases reminiscent of the classical definition of philosophy, the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, and medieval venery, he pictured his intellectual life as a venatio sapientiae and himself as a keen and pious hunter. Virtually all his important philosophical and theological works, from the De docta ignorantia of 1440 to the De venatione sapientiae of 1463, document the chase. Wisdom is the principal subject of the dialogues Idiota de sapientia. And when the Pseudo-Petrarch incorporated most of the first of these two dialogues in his De vera sapientia (put together around 1470 and printed in all the collected editions of Petrarch's works), his definition of wisdom was given added publicity and authority.