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Daniel O'Connell Department of Philosophy University of South Carolina November 10, 2006 Friday, 3:30pm-5:30pm Nursing, Room 127 Ever since Ernst Cassirer asserted (1927) that Nicholas of Cusa or Cusanus was "the first modern thinker," various attempts have been made to characterize or identify this "modernity" in Cusa. Further debates have arisen among scholars in Germany and the United States about the value of comparing Cusanus with those philosophers who came after him (e.g., Descartes or Kant), with some [W. Beierwaltes] finding such comparisons useless or empty, because of Cusa's lack of direct historical influence on these philosophers. These philosophers advocate reading Cusanus in light of his historical sources (e.g., Proclus Diadochus and Dionysius the Areopagite) and, unsuprisingly, do not classify Cusa as a "modern" thinker in the philosophical sense. They tend to see him as a very original Medieval thinker, but one who at most opened the door to modern paths of thought, which were to emerge both in Philosophy and in the sciences. Other recent readings of early modern literature [V. Lobsien] have imitated Cassirer insofar as they have told a story of early modern literature which begins with Cusanus, and sees Cusanus connected to later thinkers not so much by specific propositions but rather by his skeptical attitude and method. In this paper I will offer a further contribution to the debate by an examination of (a) Cusa's propositions concerning truth (veritas), (b) his skeptical attitude towards human knowledge of this truth (and a brief contrast with Descartes' skepticism), and (c) a late development in his thought, his notion of vision or sight. This notion of vision or sight suggests both (i) that there is some resolution to the tensions inherent in the skeptical attitude, even if they are never removed entirely and (ii) that the medieval/modern debate surrounding Cusanus can be settled only if we begin to see that what is "medieval" and what is "modern" about Cusanus can oftentimes be found united in one and the same proposition outlook.  |
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Last updated 11/6/08 11:10 PM
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