Nicholas of Cusa

In May 1431, while serving as baccalaureus Sententiarum at the University of Heidelberg, John Wenck responded to a quaestio on the Holy Spirit in the course of his lectures on Book I of the Sentences. The present article examines the doctrinal content of Wenck’s Quaestio disputata de Spiritu Sancto, including his exchange with his socius, and provides a critical edition of the text in an appendix. Although the question arose within the ordinary teaching practices of the theological faculty, it holds particular significance because it anticipates themes and problems that Wenck would confront the following year at the Council of Basel, especially regarding the struggle against heresy. The article also sheds new light on Wenck’s intellectual formation at Heidelberg and on his relationship with his teacher, Nicholas of Jawor.

This article offers a historical-philosophical and methodological clarification of ANAM — a model of the primary act of tensional distinction as the generative ground of distinguishability. ANAM functions as the canonical name of this act, while X is used as its compact symbolic designation in schemes and formal comparisons. The paper examines the problem of the origin of distinguishable order, the status of indistinguishability, and the relation of the whole to its parts. It shows that classical philosophy and related ontological traditions contain stable motifs of a single generative whole, enfolding and unfolding, the part as an expression of the whole, internal self-unfolding, and self-similarity. These motifs can be traced in Plato, Nicholas of Cusa, Giordano Bruno, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Whitehead, Simondon, the theory of autopoiesis, Spencer-Brown, Deleuze, and Bohm.
The specificity of ANAM lies in shifting the explanatory center to the pre-axiomatic level of distinguishability. The primary act of tensional distinction X is understood as a minimal condition of presence in which the distinguishable, the mode of distinguishing, retention, fixation, internal tension, and the possibility of further movement are jointly opened. Indistinguishability in this model receives an actualizational status: it is understood as still enfolded, weakly articulated, and insufficiently localized distinguishability within an already given generative whole. Further multiplicity is considered as a fractal actualization of X, while the regularity of development is understood as the passage of distinguishability through the regimes of retention, fixation, articulation, coordination, localization, and stabilization.
The article has the status of a methodological and historical-philosophical comparison. The full derivation of the role-based, regime-based, cosmological, and metric layers belongs to the main corpus of ANAM; in the present work, this corpus is used as a basis for clarifying the place of ANAM within the line of classical philosophical problems of the whole, difference, indistinguishability, substance, self-similarity, and self-unfolding.

“Hesychastic” spirituality, widespread in the Christian East during the patristic and medieval periods, takes its name from the Greek term hesychía, meaning “quiet, tranquility”. This essay outlines the distinguishing features of this form of spirituality, beginning with the central idea of conversion to one’s own interiority to grasp the presence of God within, toward which one can transcend oneself with the indispensable help of His grace. It also outlines its philosophical and theological foundations, which are rooted in the Neoplatonic conception of God’s self-contemplation, the archetype of the human soul’s conversion to itself.

I argue for a transformative revival or actualization of the very core of an integrative, methodologically secured form of intellect-mystical asceticism. This approach draws on traditional sources that are reexamined from a systematic-synthetic and transcultural-philosophical perspective and in light of the multi-civilizational global environment of the 21st century. The main traditional points of reference in this paper are provided by Nicolaus de Cusa and Ibn Sīnā, and I refer to a few others, such as Attar of Nishapur, in passing. I begin by developing a basic concept of intellectmystical asceticism. It is distinguished from mystification, science, scientism, and modes of everyday communication and cognition. Then, I make the case for an updated, transcultural approach to intellect-mysticism that can foster the internal (social) and external (environmental) reintegration of the human noosphere and technosphere in future planetary development. In this context, a modern intellect-mystical philosophical notion of "knowing non-knowing" (wissendes Nichtwissen, docta ignorantia) is developed. It is inspired by Nicolaus de Cusa and contextualized from a systematic transcultural angle at the same time. Finally, I discuss the problem of the practical, or rather ascetic, realization of the related possibilities of intellect-mystical self-enfolding. Here, the preceding steps of the reflection are mapped onto an outline regarding distinct developmental stages of such a transformative intellect-mystical practice in Ibn Sīnā's Remarks and Admonitions (al-Ishārāt wat-Tanbīhāt).

The main aim of the paper is to address the question of whether Mikołaj of Błonie (before 1400-ca. 1448), a Polish doctor of canon law, was a supporter of the conciliarist movement. In the first half of the 15th century, the most prominent representatives of Poland's intellectual elite were conciliarists. Initially, the Polish elite were moderately sympathetic towards conciliarism, but with the development of the situation during the Council of Basel (1431-1449), radical solutions started to be favoured. This article analyzes selected fragments from two works by Mikołaj of Błonie in the broader context of the conciliarist discussion in order to determine to what extent the contemporary situation and the preacher's personal opinion could be reflected in the preaching and pastoral texts. These texts are Tractatus sacerdotalis de sacramentis (known as Sacramentale), a pastoral manual written around 1430, prepared for the lower clergy, and two collections of sermons-de tempore and de sanctis-also intended for use by lower clergy and uneducated audiences, written probably around 1438. Mikołaj of Błonie strongly postulated the need for reforms of the Church in membris while maintaining great caution in formulating conclusions regarding the reform in capite. His approach to power in the Church places him more on the side of the papists, although in his texts one can see a distant echo of the writings of Jean Gerson, Stanisław of Skarbimierz, and the discussions by Polish theologians and decreeists. Mikołaj's conservativeness can be explained in many ways: the preacher's personal views, the specific purpose of the texts, which did not provide space for ecclesiological discussion, and the context of polemics with the Hussites as well as the need to strengthen papal authority.

El presente artículo pretende dar una visión panorámica de la historia teológico-bibliográfica del Liber creaturarum, la controvertida obra del teólogo catalán Raimundo Sibiuda (†1436), a lo largo de sus casi seis siglos de historia. Se pasan en revista las principales cuestiones relativas a los manuscritos, ediciones, traducciones, compendios y refundiciones de la obra sibiudiana. No seguimos un orden cronológico de aparición de dichos textos, sino que se abordan las cuestiones con base en criterios bibliográficos y teológicos, de acuerdo con las exigencias de los problemas planteados por los estudiosos de Sibiuda. Se inicia con una recopilación de los pocos datos biográficos seguros existentes a respecto del autor. A continuación, se introduce la problemática bibliográfica, originada por la gran difusión espacio-temporal alcanzada por la obra. Se explican las tres familias textuales actualmente reconocidas por la crítica textual, exponiendo el estado de la cuestión en relación con los problemas que esa clasificación plantea. Se explica la inclusión de la obra, sobre todo del Prólogo, en el Índice de libros prohibidos a lo largo de la historia. Se aborda de modo particular el análisis comparativo del texto crítico del Prólogo (latín) y del texto correspondiente de la primera edición francesa, anónima (Lyon, 1519), constatando una esencial compatibilidad teológica entre ambos textos. Finalmente, se describen algunas ediciones especialmente significativas, como son la del italiano Giovanni Regoli (1764-1844) y la del compendio denominado Viola animae (1499), así como un breve apunte acerca de una supuestas Quaestiones disputatae atribuidas al teólogo catalán. Se concluye con una justificación de la edición que hemos tomado como referencia, esto es, la de Friedrich Stegmüller (1966). Desde un punto de vista teológico, se constata que es posible encontrar hoy en día el genuino pensamiento de Sibiuda en algunos de los textos disponibles, a pesar de que el manuscrito original se encuentra perdido desde tiempo inmemorial y de las numerosas vicisitudes atravesadas por la obra a lo largo de su historia.

RESUMO: No Discurso Decisivo, Averróis analisa os três modos que considera como válidos para o assentimento religioso, considerando cada um destes como atrelados a um modo discursivo; demonstrativo, dialético e retórico. A partir disso, afirma a demonstração como o modo mais excelente e, com isso, fazendo necessária a análise da validade que as outras vias possuem, visto que isso será determinante para que se estabeleçam as possibilidades interpretativas do texto sagrado. Averróis se utiliza deste expediente para desenvolver sua tese a respeito da harmonia entre filosofia e revelação, ponto central da obra, o que torna fundamental compreender a relação intrínseca que as formas discursivas deverão manter, evitando a contradição entre o filosófico e o religioso, que só ocorrerá quando os termos não forem corretamente organizados. Em outras palavras, a possível contradição ocorrerá quando estas modalidades interpretativas estabelecem alguma forma de concorrência com a demonstração, premissa que contribui para o posicionamento dos praticantes da ciência demonstrativa como os legítimos intérpretes do texto sagrado.

According to Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), wisdom is connected to man’s inescapable desire to know the truth, even about himself, and the concept of “wisdom”, understood as sapida scientia, “tasty knowledge”, encompasses the two fundamental human dimensions: cognitive and affective. Following Cusa’s quest for wisdom, the essay highlights how it allows us to rediscover the true essence of man. Reflection on truth leads to the adoption of the “anagogical perspective”, of absolute Being, proper to both rational and revealed theology, which allows for the development of a metaphysics of the person open to the enrichment that theological reflection can offer in the light of Revelation.

This table presents a case-study application of the methodological framework developed in Bessarion Research. It reconstructs the relationship between Cardinal Bessarion and Nicholas of Cusa through a series of documented and contextualized attestations, organized according to date, type of interaction, degree of directness, evidentiary form, and intermediary structures. The table is intended not as a synthetic narrative but as an analytical instrument that distinguishes securely attested event-level contacts from indirect or network-level connections grounded in shared institutional settings, intellectual controversies, manuscript transmission, and mediated communication. Read together with the companion methodological text, it illustrates how attestation-based prosopography can be used to map a historically significant relationship with both documentary rigor and interpretive transparency.

Note on the current state of the project
The present form of the material reflects an intermediate research stage and does not yet correspond to the final user-oriented interface for which the project is intended. In its completed version, the documentation will be searchable and navigable through a system of categorical filters, allowing users to access the material according to structured historical criteria (such as Directness, Interaction Type, Evidence Layer, Evidence Form, chronology, institutional context, or intermediary structure). The implementation of this functionality is primarily a technical matter; however, it depends on the prior resolution of conceptual and methodological questions. The current format therefore prioritizes the stabilization of categories, terminology, and evidentiary structure, which constitute the necessary foundation for a fully operational research interface.
The material presented here is organized to facilitate efficient consultation and analytical reading. Each section serves a specific function within the overall documentation and is designed to guide the reader from general orientation to detailed evidence.

This text presents the theoretical and methodological foundations of Bessarion Research, a project devoted to the reconstruction of Cardinal Bessarion’s social, institutional, and intellectual networks through an attestation-based prosopographical model. Rather than offering a continuous biographical narrative, the project is structured around documented occurrences, each recorded with reference to source, date, place, participants, and contextual function. Special emphasis is placed on the distinction between direct event-level interactions and indirect or network-level relations, in order to preserve documentary precision while allowing for the reconstruction of broader fields of mediation, influence, and exchange. By combining prosopography, relational modelling, and digital humanities methodology, the project proposes a research infrastructure designed to support both close historical analysis and larger-scale network interpretation. (1/3)

Transcendence occupies a central role in the philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa: Without it, his thought would lose its coherence. Yet, how can a concept that has confronted philosophy with seemingly intractable problems serve such a foundational function? The analysis begins from a widely acknowledged thesis: In Nicholas's thought, transcendence has both an "objective" and a "subjective" dimension. On the "objective" side, Nicholas attempts to articulate the principle-function of transcendence by formulating a series of concepts of God. On the "subjective" side transcendence is understood as that which exceeds the grasp of human cognition. Every search for God culminates in "learned ignorance" (docta ignorantia), Nicholas's term for our recognition of the limitation of our own (epistemic) capacities. The crucial question is how these two dimensions are related. This question is not of historical interest alone. Its exploration may also help to demonstrate the continuing relevance of Nicholas's philosophy.

This paper argues that Bonaventure eschatological treatment of the fate of the irrational creatures undergoes a shift between the Sentences Commentary and the Breviloquium, wherein in introduces the notion that they are "saved in the principles," a notion not given any great expansion but demands that they preserved in some way. This manner of thinking reflects their fate in Eriugena's thought and thus points to a possible avenue for considering Bonaventure's relationship to Eriugena.

In Oriental art one of the representations of labyrinth is the thread, a line which gets tangled in a skein on itself. Labyrinth is a polysemic symbol having metaphysical meaning: it expresses the analogy or correspondence among the various hierarchical levels of reality and can be applied to different ontological degrees. The “prin-ciple of homography” of iconic Egyptian and Mesopotamian writings applies to Oriental symbols: there’s a natural, essential and immutable link among hieroglyphic and cuneiform pictograms having similar spelling and their meanings; in the same way, symbols similarly depicted have meanings connected to each other: the thread binds all the ontological manifested states to the Principle and each state to its peculiar conditions of existence. This lends itself to comparison with the Western concept of logos, whose etymology is the idea of “bond” and which in Homer passes to the meaning of “saying” (you walk through a series of things to bring them together). From Heraclitus to Plotinus the concept of logos receives a remarkable metaphysical amplifi-cation, which continues in Christian theology: according to Nicholas of Cusa, Logos is the “connection” both “horizontal”, intratrinitary (the Holy Spirit as a “connection”), and “vertical”, between God and the universe through mankind (theandric Christ and sonship as the closer union).

After having examined the polyvalence of the concept of “order” (in an ontological, henological, gnoseological, axiological and aesthetical-emotional dimension), various examples taken from the mythological field of ancient religions of Aegypt, Mesopotamia, India and Iran, from the ancient Greek philosophy (Anaximander, Plato, Numenius) and from the scientific field (astrophysics, nuclear physics, hyperphysics) reveal the fact that “chaos” is thought to be reflected in the “order” and vice-versa, although they’re opposite, because the “disorder” is conceived either as potentiality or as privation of order. Finally, the metaphysical foundation of this mutual “reflection” is reconstructed using the notions of Exemplar in Thomas Aquinas and of “unfolding” in Nicholas of Cusa and using his dialectic among the possibility-made-actual, the possibility-of-being-made and the possibility-of-making. This dialectic enables that both senses of chaos are traced back to the concept of order as actualized-possibility of all the possible things in God.

In this chapter from Athanasius Kircher’s Quadrivium, the principle of “the All in the All” is introduced as a foundation of metaphysical thought. Through ideas of unity and infinity, Kircher explores how all diversity originates from and is contained within a single, indivisible source. Drawing on Neoplatonic, Hermetic, and Dionysian traditions, he shows how seemingly opposing forces are unified in the divine, where the maximum and minimum merge. This passage presents a view of reality in which everything shares a single essence, rooted in unity and expressed through an infinite variety of forms.

This essay offers a comprehensive examination of epekeinology-the philosophical and theological inquiry into that which transcends being itself. Beginning with Plato's cryptic assertion in the Republic that the Form of the Good is epekeina tēs ousias (beyond being), the essay traces the extraordinary intellectual tradition this phrase inaugurated across twenty-five centuries of Western and non-Western thought. From the Neoplatonic architectures of Plotinus, Proclus, and Damascius, through the Christian apophatic mysticism of Pseudo-Dionysius, Meister Eckhart, and Nicholas of Cusa, into the Islamic metaphysics of Ibn Arabi and the Jewish negative theology of Maimonides, and culminating in the modern transformations of Heidegger, Levinas, Marion, and Derrida, the essay maps the deep structural persistence of a single philosophical problem: how to think-and to acknowledge the impossibility of thinking the condition of possibility for being itself. The essay argues that epekeinology is not a historical curiosity but a living philosophical necessity: wherever thought seeks its own ultimate ground, it encounters the gesture that Plato named and that no subsequent thinker has been able to surpass, contain, or dismiss. By grounding abstract analysis in the texture of ordinary human experience-the experience of moral demand, aesthetic sublimity, the face of the suffering other, and the silent wonder before existence itself-the essay demonstrates that the philosophical question of the beyond-being is not merely academic but rooted in the deepest strata of what it means to be a thinking, feeling, mortal creature.

TurkiyeȂde ȃdini dislayicilikȂ, ȁdini kapsayicilikȂ ve ȁdini cogulculukȂ kavramlarini cok sik duyariz. Ancak ȁdini tekelcilikȂ kavrami, belki de ilk kez bu calismayla literaturumuze girmis oluyor. Dinlerin dogruluk, mutlaklik, ustunluk ve kurtaricilik gibi argumanlari savunmasini anlatmak icin cogunlukla ȁdini dislayicilikȂ (religious eiclusivism) kavrami kullanilmaktadir. Yazar, kitabinda, TurkceȂde ȁdini dislayicilikȂ kullani- minin zihinlerde yarattigi olumsuz cagrisimdan dolayi, daha nesnel bir algilama amaciyla ȁdini tekelcilikȂ kavramini tercih ettigini soyluyor. Sonuc itibariyle her iki kullanim da ayni anlama gelmektedir.

Edmund Husserl’s turn to genetic phenomenology, as articulated in his Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis (1920-1926), endeavored to trace the origins of truth back to the structures of pre-predicative consciousness. However, the transcendental reduction—by delimiting the thematizable to the noetic-noematic correlation—reaches a breaking point when genetic analysis interrogates the origins of the correlational structure itself. This paper contends that genetic regression, pursued to its limit, discloses an ontological aporia that exceeds the constitutive intelligibility of the transcendental field, philosophically necessitates a speculative radicalization of phenomenology toward an ontology of participation. I propose that Husserl’s analyses reveal a co-originarity that, while descriptively adequate, proves ontologically aporetic: the horizon of possibilities is required to constitute any actual object, yet those possibilities are generated only through the actual flow of consciousness. At the level of constitution, a mutual presupposition emerges between the actual flow of consciousness and the horizon of possibilities that governs it, creating a self-recursive grounding that prevents phenomenology from identifying an absolute origin within the immanent stream. While Husserl stabilizes this structure through the teleology of temporal givenness, the question of ontological ground, as that which ‘possibilizes possibility’ as the positive capacity to be, remains constitutively irresolvable. This aporia points toward a primordial source preceding the distinction between possibility and actuality, unthematizable within Husserl’s method yet disclosable as the participatory ground wherein finite consciousness receives what it cannot constitute.

This limit opens the possibility of a speculative radicalization of Husserlian phenomenology—one recovering resources from a thinker Husserl himself engaged. In De Possest (1460), Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) names this hyperbolic origin Possest: a neologism combining posse and est, designating the eternal coincidence of possibility and actuality in the infinite—that which alone maximally is what it is able to be. Through genetic inquiry into being-able-to-be, I show how the aporia within Husserl’s analyses indexes finite intellect’s participation in Possest as that which precedes every correlational horizon and exceeds the very distinction between immanence and transcendence. This entails a reinterpretation of passive synthesis as participatory receptivity rather than autonomous constitution. The essay unfolds in three movements: (I) reconstructing the aporia of possibility within Husserl’s analyses of passive synthesis; (II) critically examining Husserl’s interpretation of Possest in Beilage IX of his 1923-1924 Erste Philosophie lectures; (III) proposing that the aporia motivates a speculative retrieval of the infinite as the participatory ground of constitution.

On Sat. March 21, 2026, invited to assist in Milan, Italy, at the Awarding Ceremony of the International Prize “The Universal Genius – Tribute to Leonardo da Vinci” held at the prestigious National Museum for Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci, painter engraver and historian Karel Vereycken, presented a 3 minute call for a “New Renaissance”.

This chapter surveys the German philosophical landscape in the seventeenth century. It first presents the intellectual-historical context of post-Reformation Germany, with an especial focus on the university. It discusses some of the leading movements for reform in Protestant philosophy inside and outside the academic context. The chapter then concentrates on developments in logic and metaphysics. In logic, it canvasses three tendencies in seventeenth-century Germany: a linguistic model rooted in humanism, an epistemic approach aimed at a synthesis of Aristotelian syllogistic and Cartesian method, and a mathematical-metaphysical direction. In metaphysics, the chapter selects the new distinction between general and special metaphysics for detailed examination. It describes the key features of ontology and pneumatics, the slow emergence of cosmology, as well as the reception of the mind-body problem in German scholasticism.

The phrase “creatores assimilativi”, which appears in the title of this essay, occurs in a Sermon given by Cusanus in Innsbruck on 29 December 1455. In this phrase, Cusanus combines two appa- rently opposite concepts, describing, on the one hand, the spontaneity (“vis creativa”) of the mind and, on the other, its receptivity (“vis as- similativa”). Even in his writings, Cusanus ascribes both concepts to the mind, and this has often led the philosophical historiography of the twentieth century to offer divergent interpretations of his thought; interpretations that, relying on one or the other of these concepts, have regarded Cusanus as the first modern thinker or, instead, have stressed his continuity with the tradition of medieval realism. Tensions of this kind also recur in other areas of Cusa’s thought. The aim of this paper is to show that these tensions, such as that between “creatio” and “as- similatio”, are irreducible to the “modern”-“pre-modern” dialectic and are not even the sign of the indecisiveness of a thought that would have remained on the threshold of a modernity that it would not have been able to cross. Rather, these tensions constitute, and often inten- tionally so, the peculiarity of Nicholas of Cusa’s thought and have a productive philosophical significance, as this article aims to show with regard to the Cusanian view of human praxis.

En mars 1821, le poète anglais Percy Bysshe Shelley concluait son poème « Défense de la poésie » par ce concept visionnaire :
« Les poètes sont les hiérophantes d’une inspiration insoupçonnée, les miroirs des ombres gigantesques que l’avenir projette sur le présent, les mots qui expriment ce qu’ils ne comprennent pas, les trompettes qui sonnent pour la bataille, sans ressentir ce qu’elles inspirent, l’influence qui ne se laisse pas émouvoir, mais qui émeut. Les poètes sont les législateurs méconnus du monde. »

Nous vous proposons d’examiner ici, de ce point de vue, le chef-d’œuvre de Léonard de Vinci, « La Vierge à l’Enfant avec sainte Anne », actuellement au Louvre à Paris.

Discussions about Darwinism often show a surprising level of misunderstanding, as if different people come to the subject with incompatible presuppositions. There is a polarisation which is not just the familiar split between Christians and atheists, nor the demarcation between the disciplines of theology and science. Rather, there is a faultline between paradigms that may be labelled as "dualism" and "holism" (or, crudely speaking, Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism) with members of the two groups sometimes reacting in opposite ways to the same information. For the dualists, theology and science deal with different things, religion is supernatural not natural, Heaven and Earth are in different places, divine creativity is not human creativity, and eschatology has got nothing to do with the process of evolution. The holists see things oppositely. These differences of perspective can go a long way towards explaining the confusion which, even among those who agree about the validity of modern science, often bedevils discussions about science and religion.

Fedro (1424), la Apología, el Critón (1424), todas estas realizadas por Leonardo Bruni (contenidas, entre otros, en el Codex Cusanus 177). 4 Años más tarde, más precisamente en el 1451, Trevizonda tradujo las Leyes (Codex Harlem 3261) y el Parménides en el 1459 (Codex Volterra 6201), por expreso pedido del Cusano. En tercer lugar, podemos mencionar, para la composición del retrato de Sócrates, el texto en griego y la traducción al latín de las Vitae et sententiae philosophorum de Diógenes Laercio, realiza-

In march 1821, the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, concluded his poem « A defense of Poetry » with a visionary concept: « Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. »

We examine here, from that standpoint, Leonardo da Vinci's masterwork The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.

En el siguiente escrito me propongo a realizar una reflexión respecto de los diálogos de Nicolás de Cusa y la poesía de Fernando Pessoa, vía Alberto Caeiro, en la búsqueda de paralelismos y transversalidades posibles. Para esto, me remitiré principalmente a las explicaciones del Cusano en sus diversos escritos respecto de un saber iletrado, el discurrir de una ignorancia, y la accesibilidad al saber simplísimo, a la vez que retomaré las alusiones del mencionado poeta portugués en torno a la inocencia en lo natural, la contemplación de lo particular y la innecesaria exaltación del pensamiento y de las preguntas metafísicas. En este sentido, trazaré tanto similitudes nocionales, puntos de encuentro e intereses compartidos como también, distancias en sus respectivos enfoques, diferencias entre sus fines y contraposiciones en las posiciones erigidas. Al mismo tiempo, y recuperando las distinciones propuestas por Deleuze y Guattari, me propongo esgrimir y delinear el alcance cognoscitivo y los límites nocionales entre los que se desplaza el personaje conceptual del Idiota cusano para, de igual forma, revisar las condiciones de producción y aptitud cognoscitiva en las que la poesía de Pessoa se inserta, en una intención de abrir debate sobre la injerencia posible de sus poemas en el despliegue de un horizonte conceptual válido y verosímil.

L'empreinte du Liber de causis dans l'œuvre d'Eckhart est retracée à travers trois lectures critiques — Beierwaltes, Retucci, Beccarisi — mais le mouvement véritable du texte n'est pas historiographique, il est philosophique : où se trouve la cause première ? Quel type de lieu occupe-t-elle ?
La réponse d'Eckhart est déconcertante : la cause est tout entière au-dedans et tout entière au-dehors à la fois. Pour circonscrire ce lieu impossible, le texte introduit un emprunt lacanien — l'extimité — qui n'est pas un ornement théorique mais une nécessité conceptuelle : ce qui est le plus intime et qui, pourtant, ne vous appartient pas.
De là se déploient sept fonctions du Liber chez Eckhart — la créaturabilité de l'être, l'immédiateté de la cause première, l'indistinction divine, l'innommabilité et l'omnommabilité, l'auto-affirmation — jusqu'à la proposition la plus singulière du texte : ce qui advient du côté de l'homme noble n'est pas une autodétermination, mais un se-laisser-faire, un se laisser vider par cette bouche qui s'engendre elle-même en nous engendrant.
La cause ne se cherche pas. Elle est le mouvement même.

The surprising appointment as 'Legatus Urbis', the Pope's representative in secular affairs, made Nicholas of Cusa responsible for war and peace in the Papal States. The paper examines the preconditions and achievements of Nicholas of Cusa in this role. Despite some experience in peacemaking as papal legate and with military crisis management as bishop of Brixen, Nicholas of Cusa did not actually fit the requirement profile of the 'Legatus Urbis'. Nevertheless, as an impartial mediator, he succeeded in maintaining peace and order in the Papal States for the duration of his office.

Is the abbot of an exempt monastery obliged to participate in a diocesan synod? In the late Middle Ages, this specific problem often provoked a fundamental discussion about the balance of power within dioceses. Exemption privileges actually exempted abbots from the obligation to attend synods, but according to canonical rules they were nevertheless obliged to do so if incorporated parishes were subject to them. Subtle canonical considerations about the prerogatives of bishops revealed the otherwise often unspoken structural problems of the diocesan constitution. Reflections on the episcopate reveal the ambivalent character of diocesan synods, which are perceived at the same time as a gesture of reverence towards the bishop but also as his area of action in terms of political power.

treit belebt den Diskurs. Politische Konfliktsituationen sind Katalysatoren des Verfassungsdiskurses. Der Streit des Nikolaus von Kues mit dem Herzog Sigismund von Österreich brachte einige erstaunlich originelle Ideen zum Verhältnis von geistlicher und weltlicher Landesherrschaft zu Tage. 1 ) Ob im spontanen Affekt oder als eruptive Entladung lange gereifter Gedanken, wird zu diskutieren sein. Im Herbst 1457, drei Monate nachdem Nikolaus von Kues aus Angst um Leib und Leben auf die Felsenburg Buchenstein geflohen war, präsentierte er einen überraschenden Unionsplan für das Hochstift Brixen mit der Grafschaft Tirol. 2 ) Der Kernsatz, enthalten in einem Schreiben an den herzoglichen Kanzler Leonhard von Velseck 3 ) lautet:

Blickt man auf die Philosophie und ihre Geschichte, so fällt immer wieder auf, dass die Erkenntnis im Sinne der Episteme (ἐπιστήμη) nicht notwendigerweise an metaphorische Ausdrücke oder bildliches Denken gebunden ist. Viemehr versucht die abendländische Philosophie spätestens seit der Aufklärung, sich von einem Erkennen durch und mit metaphorischen Ausdrücken fernzuhalten. Eine exakte, gegenstands-und wirklichkeitsbezogene Sprache soll das Erkennen fundieren. Etliche Untersuchungen zur Metapher haben gezeigt, dass dies unmöglich ist. Die Metapher ist mit der Erkenntnis in eigentümlicher Weise verschwistert, auch wenn erstere entlang einer analytischen Tradition als problematisch angesehen wird. Die spezifische Erkenntnisleistung der Metapher gilt es daher allererst zu erschließen. Dies gelingt jedoch nur über spezifische Fragen an das Verhältnis von Metapher und Erkenntnis selbst: Inwiefern grenzt sich die Leistung der Metapher von den tradierten Formen wissenschaftlicher und philosophischer Erkenntnis ab, ja inwiefern beansprucht die Metapher eine eigene Wahrheit für sich? Oder, anders gefragt, ist die Erkenntnisleistung der Metapher nicht vielmehr konstitutiv für die wissenschaftliche und philosophische Erkenntnis, liegt sie beiden gleichermaßen zugrunde? Kann überhaupt ein restlos sprachanalytisches Erkennen ohne Metaphorik bewerkstelligt werden? Nehmen wir eine, wenngleich noch undeutliche, Verschwisterung von Metapher und Erkenntnis einmal an, fragt sich weiterhin: In welchen Bereichen unserer alltäglichen Lebenswelt und unseres wissenschaftlichen Selbstverständnisses kann solch eine Verschwisterung produktiv Anwendung finden, Veränderung und Neuheit bewirken? An welchen Stellen widerspricht oder sperrt sich eine Verbindung von Metapher und Erkenntnis wiederum demgegenüber? -Diese Fragen kann nur eine Epistemologie der Metapher beantworten, welche die Erkenntnisfunktion der Metapher systematisch erschließt. Die Beiträge im vorliegenden Band verstehen sich als explorative Schritte, die auf dieses Ziel hinarbeiten: auf eine Epistemologie der Metapher. In der Auseinandersetzung mit der Erkenntnisleistung der Metapher drängt sich rasch die von Hans Blumenburg formulierte Frage auf, wie weit sie in die Substruktur des Denkens hinabreicht. Die oben aufgeworfenen Problematisierungen lassen sich daher entlang von Blumenbergs Projekt einer Metaphorologie spezifizieren: Ist es möglich, dass die Metapher unser Erkennen von einer uns nicht auf Anhieb zugänglichen Tiefendimension aus bestimmt? Gestaltet der Mensch nicht nur seine Wirklichkeit bewusst mit Metaphern, sondern gestaltet auch diese Wirklichkeit den Menschen auf einer unbewussten Ebene durch Metaphern -und bestimmt so sein Erkennen? Kants Ideen der theoretischen Vernunft waren auf begriffliches Denken ausgerichtet. Übersetzen sich diese Ideen nicht auch als absolute Metaphern gleichsam nach unten, hinein in eben jene Tiefendimensionen der sprachlichen und kulturellen Wirklichkeit des Menschen? -Bejaht man diese Fragen, so weitet sich das Spektrum der menschlichen Erkenntnis derart, dass sich die Forderung nach einer Epistemologie der Metapher neu Open Access.

El presente artículo sostiene la posibilidad de formular un lenguaje de la pintura en la fenomenología de la voz de Jean-Louis Chrétien como un tipo de lenguaje no-predicativo. Para mostrar esto, en primer lugar, abordaremos las nociones de verbo silencioso (verbe silencieux) y verbo infante (verbum infans) propuestos por Chrétien, tal como aparecen en su escrito Corps à corps (1997). En segundo lugar, mostraremos cómo esta noción del lenguaje de la pintura es elaborada por Chrétien a partir de su recepción de la doctrina del verbum en el neoplatonismo cristiano, puntualmente en autores como Agustín de Hipona y Nicolás de Cusa. Finalmente, y con el fin de hacer evidente la virtud hermenéutica de este lenguaje no-predicativo de la pintura y el carácter productivo de su recepción y apropiación del neoplatonismo cristiano, retomaremos la discusión entre pintura (imagen) y poesía (lenguaje) en el Trattato della pittura de Leonardo da Vinci.

In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx and Engels ([1848] 19692) showed that the history of the human world is not static, nor even cyclic, but is a forward movement that can be explained and −to a certain extent− predicted. This history cannot be understood without considering the necessity for the human animal to provide the means of existence for itself by work (production) within the context of particular social relations. Marx untangled an unsolved problem of classical political economy, namely the origin of wealth under capitalism, by attaching it to the difference (surplus value) between the work done by a worker and the work necessary to provide his or her means of existence. Engels may be associated with this breakthrough.As far as the physical world is concerned, Newtonian mechanics had proved extremely fruitful but its very success could induce a mechanistic, static view of the world. Engels is remarkable for having seen in some of the advances of science during hi...

Questo libro rappresenta un esperimento filosofico senza precedenti: un dialogo approfondito tra un ricercatore della verità e un'intelligenza artificiale, Claude, che esplora i fondamenti della filosofia non-dualistica. Attraverso un'articolata conversazione divisa in due parti complementari, l'opera indaga la natura ultima della realtà, il concetto dell'Uno come principio unitario, e la manifestazione del molteplice nell'apparente separazione.
Nella prima parte, "Io Domando", vengono esaminati temi essenziali quali la verità, l'Uno, la realtà, la vita, Maya, l'esperienza e il gioco cosmico dell'esistenza. Nella seconda parte, "Io Rispondo", i ruoli si invertono, culminando in un'analisi del linguaggio non-dualistico e delle sue implicazioni comunicative.
L'autore, Eugenio Vignali, attinge a oltre 700 citazioni da più di 200 maestri di diverse tradizioni spirituali, creando un tessuto filosofico che trascende il confine tra sapienza antica e tecnologia contemporanea. L'opera dimostra come la verità, quando risuona autentica, non dipenda dalla fonte ma dalla sua capacità di risvegliare la consapevolezza dell'unità fondamentale dell'esistenza. Un viaggio illuminante che sfida le convenzioni sull'apprendimento, la conoscenza e la natura stessa della realtà.

Gli scritti apologetici di Pietro il Venerabile contro l'Islam non costituiscono un documento legato a un nuovo stile di approccio al mondo musulmano inteso sia come separato che opposto a quello strettamente militare, ma potevano essere invece interpretati come una giustificazione ideologica di una sorta di "crociata intellettuale" condotta dal clero e radicata, secondo l'intenzione dell'abate di Cluny, su una presunta conoscenza "oggettiva" dell'Islam. La composizione di questi testi si situa nel quadro generale della Reconquista (722-1492) dei territori sotto il potere islamico da parte degli eserciti cristiani, essendo stati scritti al centro di questo processo storico. Sebbene alcuni passaggi sembrino manifestare un più ampio interesse pastorale, in quanto rivolto al mondo musulmano in quanto tale, tuttavia una lettura attenta dei testi suggerisce una diversa interpretazione. In realtà, gli scritti di Pietro il Venerabile vanno intesi come un progetto intellettuale programmatico che mira alla conversione dei musulmani che vivono nei territori riconquistati dai monarchi cristiani e, allo stesso tempo, a preservare le popolazioni cristiane dalla conversione all'Islam. Il Liber contra sec tam sive haeresim saracenorum -di cui proponiamo la traduzione italiana- rappresenta quindi un documento fondamentale per comprendere la natura della conoscenza che la cristianità medievale del XII secolo possedeva relativamente alle dottrine islamiche ed al rapporto tra la comunità islamica ed il potere cristiano nella penisola iberica.

Liste des vidéos disponibles sur la chaîne YouTube de l'Equipe de Recherche sur les Mystiques Rhénans concernant le colloque international sur l'apport de la théologie mystique de Maître Eckhart et Nicolas de Cues, Metz, UFR-SHS, 29-30 avril 2025

While Renaissance humanists are best known for their revival of classical literature and values, they also engaged deeply with contemporary political concerns: chief among them, the Ottoman threat. Throughout the Quattrocento, crusading emerged as a recurring theme in their writings. This engagement aligned with their roles as educators and collaborators of the European political elite and was catalyzed by key milestones in Ottoman expansion, most notably the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Humanists reconfigured crusading rhetoric by blending Christian ideology with classical motifs. They employed terms like barbarian to depict the Turks, portraying them as enemies not only of the Christian faith but of civilization itself, thus constructing a narrative of a clash between cultures. This chapter critically examines several questions raised by recent scholarship, particularly over the past three decades. When and why did humanists reshape crusading discourse and vocabulary? Who were the principal agents in this process, and what classical or contemporary models informed their adaptations? How did the rediscovery of antiquity shape the strategic and ideological frameworks of the papacy and other Christian powers regarding crusade? Finally, how did humanist attitudes toward crusading evolve over time? By the sixteenth century, thinkers such as Erasmus of Rotterdam exposed the contradictions of earlier generations and acknowledged the shared humanity of the once-demonized enemy. Did such critiques precipitate a moral reorientation of crusading ideology and signal the emergence of a more 'humanist' conception of holy war?