SOURCE: Miller, Clyde Lee. “Perception, Conjecture, and Dialectic in Nicolas of Cusa.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 64, no. 1 (Winter 1990): 35-54.

In the following essay, Miller explicates Cusanus's theory of perceptual knowledge, particularly as found in De Coniecturis and Idiota de Mente, in order to argue that the idea of multiple perspectives was the foundation of his search for God. Miller describes Cusanus's method as a dialectical approach encompassing both oneness and otherness.

Nicholas of Cusa's thought has an extraordinary power and resourcefulness still relevant to our contemporary concerns and our own thinking. In this paper I propose to demonstrate his importance by exploring two areas related in his ideas, though not often connected today. In part I, I will discuss perception (and implicitly all knowledge) as conjectural and perspectival—important Cusan doctrines. Particularly his ideas about knowing suggest fruitful ways to take account of partial viewpoints while working beyond...