Illuminationism

In Theology, Illuminationism is the doctrine that the process of human thought needs to be aided by God. Illuminationism is the oldest and most influential alternative to naturalism in the theory of mind and epistemology. It was an important feature of ancient Greek philosophy, neo-Platonism, and medieval philosophy.

History

Augustine

Socrates says in The Apology that he had a divine or spiritual sign that began when he was a child. It was a voice that turned him away from something he was about to do, although it never encouraged him to do anything. Apuleius later suggested the voice was of a friendly demon and that Socrates deserved this help as he was the most perfect of human beings.

The early Christian philosopher Augustine (354 – 430) also emphasised the role of divine illumination in our thought, saying that "The mind needs to be enlightened by light from outside itself, so that it can participate in truth, because it is not itself the nature of truth. You will light my lamp, Lord and "You hear nothing true from me which you have not first told me . Augustine's version of illuminationism is not that God gives us certain information, but rather gives us insight into the truth of the information we received for ourselves.

If we both see that what you say is true, and we both see that what I say is true, then where do we see that? Not I in you, nor you in me, but both of us in that unalterable truth that is above our minds .

Augustine's theory was defended among Christian philosophers of the later middle ages, in particular by Franciscans such as Bonaventura and Matthew of Aquasparta. According to Bonaventura:

Things have existence in the mind, in their own nature (proprio genere), and in the eternal art. So the truth of things as they are in the mind or in their own nature -- given that both are changeable -- is sufficient for the soul to have certain knowledge only if the soul somehow reaches things as they are in the eternal art .

The doctrine was criticised by John Pecham and Roger Marston, and particular by Thomas Aquinas, who denied that in this life we have divine ideas as an object of thought, and that divine illumination is sufficient on its own, without the senses. Aquinas also denied that there is a special continuing divine influence on human thought. People have sufficient capacity for thought on their own, without needing "new illumination added onto their natural illumination" .

The theory was defended by Henry of Ghent. Henry argued against Aquinas that that Aristotle's theory of abstraction is not enough to explain how we can acquire infallible knowledge of the truth, and must be supplemented by divine illumination. A thing has two exemplars against which it can be compared. The first is a created exemplar which exists in the soul. The second is an exemplar which exists outside the soul, and which is uncreated and eternal. But no comparison to a created exemplar can give us infallible truth. Since the dignify of man requires that we can acquire such truth, it follows that we have access to the examplar in the divine mind.

Henry's defence of illuminationism was strongly criticised by the Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus, who argued that Henry's version of the theory led to scepticism.

Persian Illuminationism

Influenced by the neo-Platonists and by Avicenna, the Persian philosopher Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (1155–1191) also developed a version of illuminationism (Arabic: حكمة الإشراق ḥikmat al-ishrāq, Persian حكمت اشراق hikmat-i ishrāq). The Persian and Islamic school draws on Avicennism (Ibn Sina’s early Islamic philosophy), Neoplatonic thought (modified by Ibn Sina), ancient Iranian philosophical disciplines, and the original ideas of Suhrawardi.

See also

• Augustine
• Henry of Ghent
• Duns Scotus
• Iranian philosophy
• Early Islamic philosophy
• Light (theology)
• Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination by Mehdi Amin Razavi
• Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

External links

• Illuminationist philosophy