The Liber XXIV philosophorum’s image of the infinita sphaera in the Nicholas of Cusa’s maxima doctrina ignorantiae

Abstract

The present article explores the theological and cosmological aspects of the Liber XXIV philosophorum’s image of the sphaera infinita in De docta ignorantia of Nicholas of Cusa. The paper is structured as follows. First, I describe the Liber, specifically focusing on its Definition II. Secondly, I address Nicholas of Cusa’s reception of the Liber, analyzing the strictly theological use of the sphaera infinita’s image in De docta ignorantia I. Thirdly, I study the cosmological use of said image in De docta ignorantia II. Finally, I examine the sphaera infinita’s passage from the theological to the cosmological domain in the maxima doctrina ignorantiae, and against most of the hegemonic scholarship, I show that the use of the image in the Cusan cosmology remains strictly theological.