Week 8 - Assigned Reading - Nicholas of Cusa

Nicholas of Cusa appears to be a very wise man. His notion of learned ignorance hearkens back to the initial weeks of this class. Everything we attempt to understand we relate to something we already understand. Therefore, We cannot possibly understand the infinite as there is nothing to compare it to. This infinite, which Nicholas of Cusa calls the Maximum, is forever greater than anything quantifiable that we perceive as being the “maximum.” If we can quantify it then we can always find something that is greater.

Nicholas of Cusa's labeling of God and Jesus as forms of the Maximum is interesting. As they are unrelated in human terms they are beyond our understanding. They are the maximum for there is nothing about them that can be quantified. All of human understanding about them is incomplete for we can not possibly know them.

I also found his understanding of Minimum in relation to Maximum to be intriguing. Since Maximum is limitless, it is the infinite, then it includes the Minimum. The Minimum, being limitless itself, includes the maximum. If the labels of most and least are disassociated from these labels then it will make more sense. The Maximum and the Minimum are one in the same as they are both everything and nothing. Any understanding of these truths will be incomplete as we deal in terms of quantity. Without quantity, without relation, we cannot understand them.

I find the comparison of the infinite to that of circle to be very astute. The circle begins where it ends and there is no point that is understandable beyond any other. The beginning and ending are incomprehensible to us and as such our understanding of the nature of circle is incomplete. Is it a line without any angles? Or, is it a line with an infinite number of angles? This inability to determine the nature of something so simple makes it both simple and complex, just like the Minimum and the Maximum.

This concept is both easy to comprehend and eternally incomprehensible. I suppose you could say that it is the ultimate paradox. The only thing that we know is that we do not know.