Coincidentia oppositorum

Coincidentia oppositorum, is a Latin phrase meaning coincidence of opposites. It is a neoplatonic term attributed to 15th century German polymath Nicholas of Cusa in his essay, De Docta Ignorantia (1440). Mircea Eliade, a 20th century historian of religion, used the term extensively in his essays about myth and ritual, describing the coincidentia oppositorum as "the mythical pattern". Psychiatrist Carl Jung, philospher and Islamic Studies professor Henry Corbin as well as Jewish philosopher Gershom Scholem also used the term.

The term is also used in describing a revelation of the oneness of things previously believed to be different. Such insight into the unity of things is a kind of transcendence, and is found in various mystical traditions. The idea occurs in the traditions of German mysticism and Buddhism, among others.

See also

• Oppositio oppositorum

References

• Craig, Edward (1998). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Sociology of knowledge to Zaroastrianism. Taylor & Francis. p. 437. ISBN 041516916X.