Nicholas of Cusa 1401-1464 - PowerPoint Presentation

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Nicholas of Cusa1401-1464

Described AS

the last great philosopher of the dying Middle Ages

-a transition thinker between the medieval and modern worlds

-the gatekeeper of the modern age

-unique (not followed by a successor)

 influenced Copernicus, Kepler, Bruno and Descartes.

On Learned Ignorance

In 1440, Cusa, in

De

docta

Ignorantia

, said that the Truth can neither be increased nor diminished and that Intellect, or Reason, can never completely comprehend Truth. But

"the more deeply we are instructed in this ignorance, the closer we approach the truth

"

The earth, which cannot be the

centre

, must in some way be in motion; in fact; Just as the earth is not the

centre

of the world, so the circumference of the world is not the sphere of the fixed stars

.

Absolute truth would seem to be unattainable in this view of the world and there is nothing special about the location of the Earth

What is so profound and important about the following idea?

Reason (meaning abstractive and discursive knowledge) is the faculty which abstracts universal concepts; it never arrives at perfect unity. The knowledge of reason, moreover, is deficient because it represents reality in an improper manner, for it is only founded on individual beings. Hence it follows that concepts result from contradictory notes, for instance, unity and multiplicity, being and non-being. The principle of contradiction, the basis of Aristotelian Scholastic logic, is good within the limits of reason, but it gives us an improper knowledge of reality.

Concerning Measurement:

you will recognize that the art of calculating lacks precision, since it presupposes that the motion of all the other planets can be measured by reference to the motion of the sun. Even the ordering of the heavens --with respect to whatever kind of place or with respect to the risings and settings of the constellations or to the elevation of a pole and to things having to do with these-- it is not precisely knowable. Since no two places agree precisely in time and setting, it is evident that judgments about the stars are, in their specificity, far from precise

Cusa

argued that every direction is relative and that the universe has its center everywhere this means there can be no unique place in the Universe! ("God is like an infinite sphere, whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.")

Cusa directly on relative motion

It is now evident that this earth really moves though to us it seems stationary. In fact, it is only by reference to something fixed that we detect the movement of anything. How would a person know that a ship was in movement, if, from the ship in the middle of the river, the banks were invisible to him and he was ignorant of the fact that water flows? Therein we have the reason why every man, whether he be on earth, in the sun or on another planet, always has the impression that all other things are in movement whilst he himself is in a sort of immovable

centre

; he will certainly always choose poles which will vary accordingly as his place of existence is the sun, the earth, the moon, Mars, etc. In consequence, there will be a 

machina

mundi

 [scheme of the world/universe] whose

centre

, so to speak, is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere, for God is its circumference and

centre

and He is everywhere and nowhere.

Cusa Accomplishments

posited that the nearly spherical earth revolves on its axis about the sun the earth was not stationary.

posited that the stars are other worlds

discussed the concept of the infinitesimal which contributes to modern relativity theory

"Wherever one stands in the Universe, the same pattern of stars will be strewn out before them“

What is the significance of this statement?

Cusa 

Davinci

The suggestion by Nicholas de

Cusa

(c.1430) that the Earth might not be stationary, was supported by Leonardo da Vinci (c1490), who amongst many (!) other things also suggested the Earths moves (rather than the Sun).

Davinci

writes:

To people elsewhere, the Earth would appear to them as a noble star

The universe has no beginning or end (so is infinite in time, not necessarily in space).

a theory of everything is not possible since the universe is infinitely complex. There is no absolute truth -- knowledge can only be a series of (hopefully better) approximations to reality.

The Plurality of Worlds

This is also discussed by Lucretius 1500 years ago

in the universe there is nothing single, nothing born unique and growing unique and alone’ (II, 1077–8), Lucretius goes on to say, ‘You must therefore confess that sky and earth and sun, moon, sea, and all else that exists are not unique, but rather of number numberless

 (non esse unica, sed numero magis innumerali)

It] must be realized that while another world than this is not possible naturally, this is possible simple speaking, since just as God made this world, so he could have made several worlds. - 

Jean

Buridan

, rector of the University of Paris circa 1325) 

Life, as it exists on Earth, in the form of men, animals and plants, is to be found, let us suppose, in a higher form in the solar and stellar regions. . . . Of the inhabitants then of worlds other than our own we can know less, having no standards by which to appraise them. It may be conjectured that in the Sun there exist solar beings, bright and enlightened denizens, and by nature, more spiritual than such as may inhabit the Moon - who are possibly lunatics .

No Stake Burning for Cusa (1440-1460)

Cusa

espoused his theories prior to the Inquisition really kicking in bigtime

The Not So Lucky List

Key Paradox emerges: 

 Changes in social/governmental structure will

Simultaneously

enable science yet punish some who practice it

.

The Reformation (e.g. Martin Luther), begin in earnest around 1510 (and lasts until 1563) While this is largely a complex religious issue (Catholics vs Protestants, etc) its importance for us lies in its creation of new forums to express ideas and a new found 

tolerance 

for, specifically, alternate views of Christianity, but more generally for alternate views of Nature.