Nicholas of Cusa

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Nicholas of Cusa

Nicholas of Cusa (1401– August 11, 1464) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, a philosopher, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer. He is widely considered as one of the greatest geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century. He is also referred to as Nicolaus Cusanus and Nicholas of Kues.

[edit] Biography

He was born Nikolaus Krebs in Kues (latinized as "Cusa") to a merchant family, and received his doctorate in Canon law from the University of Padua in 1423. He attended the Council of Basel (1431-1449). While present, he wrote De ''concordantia catholica, a synthesis of ideas on church and empire balancing hierarchy with consent. This work remained useful to critics of the papacy long after Nicholas left Basel to support Pope Eugenius IV in his effort to bring the Eastern churches into union with the West. While returning from a mission to Constantinople (where he attempted to prevent the coming Holy Wars), Nicholas had a shipboard experience that led to his writing intensively on more metaphysical topics thereafter. Nicholas then represented the pope in Germany, becoming known as the Hercules of the Eugenian cause. After a successful career as a papal legate, he was made a cardinal by Pope Nicholas V in 1448 or 1449, and was named Bishop of Brixen in 1450. His work as bishop was opposed by Duke Sigismund of Austria; the duke imprisoned Nicholas in 1460, for which Pope Pius II excommunicated Sigismund and laid an interdict on his lands. Nicholas of Cusa was never able to return to his bishopric, however. Sigmund's capitulation in 1464 came a few days after Nicholas's death at Todi in Umbria.

Nicholas of Cusa was noted for his deeply mystical writings about Christianity, particularly on the possibility of knowing God with the divine human mind - not possible through the mere senses or "learned ignorance." He was suspected by some of holding pantheistic beliefs, but his writings were never accused of being heretical. Most of his mathematical ideas can be found in his essays, De Docta Ignorantia (Of Learned Ignorance), De Visione Dei (Vision of God) and On Conjectures. Theologically, Nicholas anticipated the profound implications of Reformed teaching on the harrowing of Hell (Sermon on Psalm 30:11), followed by Pico della Mirandola, who similarly explained the descensus in terms of Christ’s agony.

Nicholas is also considered by many to be a genius ahead of his time in the field of science. Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno were all aware of the writings of Cusanus as was Johannes Kepler (who called Cusanus 'divinely inspired' in Kepler's first paragraph of his first published work). Predating Kepler, Cusanus said that no perfect circle can exist in the universe (opposing the Aristotelean model) thus opening the possibility for Kepler's model featuring elliptical orbits of the planets around the Sun. He also influenced Giordano Bruno by denying the finiteness of the universe and the Earth's exceptional position in it (being not the center of the universe, and in that regard equal in rank with the other stars). He was not, however, describing a scientifically verifiable theory of the universe: his beliefs (which proved uncannily accurate) were based almost entirely on his own personal numerological calculations and metaphysics. He made important contributions to the field of mathematics by developing the concepts of the infinitesimal and of relative motion. Cusanus was the first to use concave lenses to correct myopia. His writings were essential for Leibniz's discovery of calculus as well as Cantor's later work on infinity.

In 1433, he proposed a method to elect Holy Roman Emperors that, while it was not adopted by the Church, was essentially the same method known today as the Borda count, which is used in many academic institutions, competitions, and even some political jurisdictions, in original form and a number of variations. His proposal preceded Borda's work by over three centuries.

Upon his death in Todi, his body was interred in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, but was later lost. His monument, with a sculpted image of the cardinal, remains. In accordance with his wishes, his heart is within the chapel altar at the Cusanusstift in Kues. To this charitable institution that he had founded he bequeathed his entire inheritance: it still stands, and serves the purpose Nicholas intended for it, as a home for the aged. The Cusanusstift houses also many of his manuscripts.