The Divine Illumination theory. Interiorized truth

Running head: DIVINE ILLUMINATION
DIVINE ILLUMINATION
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DIVINE ILLUMINATION
Divine illumination is the earliest and the most influential substitute for naturalism
that concentrated in the areas of mind as well as knowledge. The doctrine states that humans
require separate divine assistance while they do their cognitive activities (Steiger, 2019). It
was a doctrine that was propagated by the philosopher Augustine and his disciples. It
originated in ancient times and now has been transformed, keeping in mind the changes that
take place today. The essay aims to discuss how divine illumination is necessary for human
knowledge and how at times the same doctrine misleads an individual concerning
philosophers like Aquinas, Henry of Ghent and Duns Scotus.
The divine illumination theory is conceived as Christian, medieval as well as
Augustinian. The theory states that the mind of humans often relies on supernatural assistance
to complete their regular activity. However, it is not clear as to who provides the divine
illumination (Moisuc, 2016). It was the philosopher Augustine who stressed on the
importance of divine light that is necessary for all human beings. People, however, disagreed
with Augustine and said that divine illumination is just an influence that an individual
receives in their life. He said that it is God who illuminates the human mind to see the truth
and grasp knowledge. It is God who offers justification. He further states that it is God who
alone can teach and guide humans towards truth (SHAHRAEENI & GHAZI 2016). In the
medieval ages, this theory of illumination was divided into two parts- priori knowledge and
concept formation. He also said that it is through divine illumination that humans can share
knowledge which cannot be possible with the sense of perception. According to him, this
divine and universal orientation were necessary for the human mind. It also helps the mind to
make judgments about ideas as well as standards (Brown, 2019). Thomas Aquinas was a
philosopher that had ended the divine illumination theory. In the “Treatise on Human
Nature,” Aquinas moves from an Augustinian view to an Aristotelian framework where he
disagrees with Aquinas that truth should not be gained from the senses present in the human

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DIVINE ILLUMINATION
body (Colberg, 2016). It is said that Aquinas replaced the figure of Augustine with that of
Aristotle and further replaced the former’s illumination with the latter’s abstraction (Pasnau,
2016).
Aquinas stated that the intellective soul cognises with the real things in the eternal
reasons. He does reject certain concepts of the divine illumination like all humans get the
divine light while doing cognitive activities and that the former is sufficient on its own and
does not need the sense. He further denied the fact that there is a unique ongoing illumination
of divinity that is essential for the working of the intellect (Culbreath, 2017). Aquinas argues
that humans have the necessary capacity of thought and that they do not require any divine
illumination on their existing natural illumination. It should be noted that Aquinas does not
reject the presence of God. He agrees that the intellect needs God to move ahead. The light of
intellect is no doubt offered to humans by God. He further agrees with his contemporaries
that the intellective cognition cannot be achieved without the assistance of the supernatural.
He only argues that this insight should be given all at once rather than in bits and pieces
(Inglis, 2017). His opponents, on the other hand, is of the view that divine illumination is an
ongoing process. Aquinas thinks illumination to be already present within the human mind,
whereas his Franciscans contemporaries believed that illumination comes slowly with time.
On the one hand, Aquinas defends a specific concept of divine illumination, and on
the other, he weakens the theory by stating it as an innate gift instead of ongoing patronage.
By making the intellect as central in his theory of cognition, he gives little importance to
illumination. Henry of Ghent, on the other hand, defended the cognitive philosophy of
Aristotle and at the same time revived the Augustinian theory of divine illumination (DeHart,
2017). According to Ghent to grasp the knowledge of truth was to understand the
understanding of nature. It is only the knowledge of life where one gets to know about the
unchanging reality of the materialistic world. His views are entirely different from that of