HPhil Seminar: November 13, 2025

The HPhil (History of Philosophy) Research Group of the Centre of Philosophy of the University of Lisbon announces the 2025/26 edition of its permanent seminar on the history of philosophy, devoted to the presentation of conferences by renowned specialists while also creating opportunities to emerging scholars, aiming to promote advanced studies in groundbreaking debates and the permanent training of its academic community.

In this session of the seminar, Mario Meliadò (Universitat Siegen) will present a work of his, entitled “Esoteric Platonism? Nicholas of Cusa’s Interpretation of Plato’s Letters in Context”. (abstract below)

The session will take place on November 13, 2025 at 5 p.m., in the Room 201.J (Room Mattos Romão, Department of Philosophy). Admission is free

Abstract

This lecture addresses the old question of Cusanus’s alleged Platonism in the light of a study of the manuscripts from his library and advances four interconnected claims. First, it argues that Nicholas of Cusa read Plato’s Letters firsthand and with particular care, though his engagement with them was highly selective. Second, the Letters occupy a central place in Cusanus’s understanding of Plato and, at the same time, contributes decisively to the philosophical ideal he elaborated in the later phase of his work. Third, Cusanus’s exegesis of the Letters emerges in dialogue with different interpretative traditions – most notably those of Proclus and Eusebius. Finally, Cusanus’s interpretation is shaped by a deliberate effort to compare and reconcile Plato and Aristotle, reflecting an informed and independent stance within the contemporary Plato-Aristotle controversy.