Talk:Nicholas of Cusa

message: "and that the orbits of the planets around the sun must be elliptical. He also predated Giordano Bruno in affirming the universe is infinite and Earth has no priviledged position in the universe." - I believe the text is incorrect or at the very least sloppily written. See Koyré, A., From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe; Chapter I. There is no mention of Nicholas ever stating planets go around either Earth or the Sun, much less claiming their orbits being elliptical. 
: You are partially right, Cusanus simply makes a point they are not circular. Probably the editor concluded they must be elliptical, though Cusanus' text leaves room for any possible shape. Daizus 09:31, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Fair enough. That was my addition and I haven't valued the word "priviledged" in that context as necessarily a positive thing (I was looking for a synonym for "special", "particular"), but probably I was wrong as it gives the reader (you're one good example for that), a false impression. So what's your suggestion for rephrasing? Daizus 09:31, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text:  I modified the article. I dropped the "elliptic orbits" fragment and I rephrased the vision upon Earth's position in the universe. Please verify if it answers your criticism. Daizus 14:47, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not good 

message: The article says
:Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno were all aware of the writings of Cusanus
but also
:Had Copernicus been aware of these assertions...
Exactly which of his teachings was Copernicus aware of? AxelBoldt (talk) 05:29, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That struck me too. The latter is ref'd, so the former must go William M. Connolley (talk) 20:37, 16 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Influence on Copernicus? 

message: The article states:  "He [Cusa] was the first to use concave lenses to correct myopia. His writings were essential for Leibniz's discovery of calculus (see Law of Continuity) as well as Cantor's later work on infinity."
The claim that Cusa was the first to use concave lenses to correct myopia rests on one very vague sentence from his book De beryllo :
"Beryllus lapis est lucidus, albus et transparent, cui datur forma concava pariter et convexa et per ipsum videns attingit prius invisibile intellectualibus occulis si intellectualis beryllus, qui formam habeat maximam pariter et minimam adaptatur per eius medium attingitur indivisibile omnium principium." (De beryllo, 1458, pages 4-5)
Translation:  "The beryl is a clear, bright, transparent stone, to which is given a concave as well as a convex form, and by looking through it, one attains what was previously invisible.  If the intellectual beryl, which possesses both the maximum and the minimum in the same way, is adapted to the intellectual eyes, the indivisible principle of all things is attained." (Vincent Ilardi, Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:  American Philosophical Society, 2007), page 80.)
As Ilardi points out, some readers have interpreted "the maximum" as long-range vision, so that some interpret the sentence to mean that (concave) beryls (i.e., lenses) help correct myopic (near-sighted) eyes, allowing such eyes to see objects at a distance.  However, the quoted passage is far from stating something like:  "I have found that concave beryls [i.e., lenses] correct myopia."  Cusa's book was really about the ability of the mind to perceive and comprehend (hence the "intellectual" beryl (lens)); it was not a book about optics.
I think that the claim that Nicholas of Cusa found concave lenses correct myopia should be qualified; e.g., "Some authors claim that Nicholas of Cusa found concave lenses correct myopia."
Regarding the claim that "His [Cusa's] writings were essential for Leibniz's discovery of calculus (see Law of Continuity) as well as Cantor's later work on infinity," Carl Boyer says: "The cardinal … did not contribute any work of lasting importance in mathematics."  (Carl B. Boyer, The History of the Calculus and its Conceptual Development (Mineola, N.Y.:  Dover, 1959), pages 89 - 94, especially page 92.)
Cwkmail (talk) 20:29, 29 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cusa:  Concave lenses ; infinity 

message: This page seemed to me far too enthusiastic (slight disclaimer: I came here via the risible http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_91-96/961_fascist_hobbes.html). I removed the "influence" header - I don't see why his philosophy should be discussed under that header, rather than just being about itself. I also took out the science header, and much of the section: it was largely unref'd and (as several comments above say) probably incorrect or too hypothetical. Here it is:
: Nicholas is also considered by many to be a genius ahead of his time in the field of science. Galileo Galilei  and Giordano Bruno  were aware of the writings of Cusanus as was Johannes Kepler (who called Cusanus 'divinely inspired' in the first paragraph of his first published work). 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.Tamara Albertini, "Mathematics and Astronomy," in Introducing Nicholas of Cusa, pp. 373-406.
: Cusanus made important contributions to the field of mathematics by developing the concepts of the infinitesimal and of relative motion. He was the first to use concave lenses to correct myopia .
William M. Connolley (talk) 17:35, 17 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Over enthusiastic 

message: Shouldn't this article mention that Nicolas de Cusa is noted for his views on what we now call extra terrestrials?
* The Man who invented Extra terrestrials
* Alien Ideas Christianity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
* Nicholas of Cusa wiki quotes
Those are just a few pages I found just now, but it's widely mentioned in discussions on extra terrestrials and theology. I thought I'd come to the wikipedia article to find out more about the background to this but there seems to be nothing which is why I'm suggesting it. Robert Walker (talk) 18:05, 29 May 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: His views on what we now call extra terrestrials

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