Rethinking Proclus with Nicholas of Cusa

• In Event: Renaissance Neoplatonic Voices: Heymericus de Campo and Cusanus

Abstract

Among the Renaissance’s closest readers of Proclus was Nicholas of Cusa. This paper discusses Cusanus’ critical reading of Proclus in De principio (1459) and De venatione sapientiae (1463). The former fuses biblical commentary and Neoplatonic metaphysics, as Nicholas analyzes Jesus’ claim to be “the principle who speaks to you” (Jn 8:25) in terms of Proclus’ description of the world cause as “per se subsistens sive authypostaton.” De venatione sapientiae recounts Cusanus’ “hunt for wisdom,” where Proclus guides his reading of Plato on the One and Ideas, but receives sharp criticism for his “futile efforts” to describe many “eternal gods.” By re-thinking Plato and Proclus in his own “conjectural” terms, Nicholas self-consciously marks out his place in the history of philosophy.

Author

• Donald F. Duclow, Gwynedd Mercy University