On the History of A.F. Losev’s Comment to Nicholas of Cusa Treatise “On the Mind”

Abstract

Aleksei Fedorovich Losev (1893–1988), the famous Russian philosopher and classicist, never concealed his interest in the work of great German thinker Nicolaus Cusanus. The history of his translations of Cusanus’ works in 1920–1930 is quite dramatic theme. While trying to reconstruct the general picture of Losev’s attitude to Cusanus and Cusanus’ infl uence on his philosophical system one should not forget that the main part of materials devoted to this problem was lost after Losev’s arrest in 1930 (for example, his book “Nicolaus Cusanus and medieval dialectics”) or remained unpublished up to now. In the volume of the selected works of Cusanus, which was published in 1937, Losev who having recently returned from the labor-camp wanted to present three treaties (“De non aliud”, “Idiota de mente” and “De possest”) on their historical background, but the editorial board excluded without explanations all the commentaries commissioned from Losev, include his article on Cusanus’ treaty “Idiota de mente”. By chance this article preserved in Losev’s private archive