The Analogical Turn : Rethinking Modernity with Nicholas of Cusa (Interventions)

The mathematical vision of space, one of the two foundations of modern science, was not the product of 17th-century scientists, contends Hoff, but was developed by artists during the 15th century. He shows how Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-64) modified Leon Battista Alberti's 1435 theoretical account of the principles of architecture that underlay Filippo Brunelleschi's 1425 demonstrations of linear perspective, offering a more rigorous account and avoiding Alberti's simplifications. He outlines the significance of this scientific and artistic controversy for philosophical theology today, recovering Nicholas' response to the upheavals of early modernity to cast light on those of late modernity. Annotation 2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)