Augustine’s Theory of Intellectual Knowledge & Divine Illumination
Augustine’s Theory of Intellectual Knowledge
Augustine explains how intellectual knowledge occurs:
- Things as Reflections of Divine Perfection: Things are created and formed by God, reflecting His own perfection. God acts according to a plan, or model, and these models are the Ideas within His own mind. Therefore, things imitate, albeit imperfectly, the Ideas of the Divine Mind.
- God’s Implantation of Ideas: God infuses the ideas of all things into the depths of our memory.
- Perception and Recognition:
- We encounter real things (e.g., a tree).
- We perceive them through our senses (sight, touch, smell, etc.).
- What we perceive through the senses corresponds to notions residing in our memory (both being copies of the Ideas in God).
- The sensory perception of the tree triggers the awakening of the corresponding notion (‘tree’).
- This allows us to understand the thing (i.e., “This is a tree”).
- Implicit knowledge becomes explicit; a notion hidden deep in memory becomes a concept reflected in the intellect.
Second or Express Illumination: Forms of Expression and Action
Augustine speaks of “quia absurdum” (“I think it is absurd”), establishing an irreconcilable antithesis between Christian faith and reason. (The Church considers this attitude incorrect.)
The second illumination, or formation, derives from the first and consists of the forms taken by each entity to express and act. It manifests differently in bodies and minds:
A) Natural Bodies
In natural bodies, illumination is necessary. The physical numbers imprinted impose necessity and determinism. Material beings act according to necessary laws. The imprinted physical numbers necessarily cause expressed physical numbers; they are the reason a body has its form and order in space and time (e.g., being a horse is the reason a horse has its appearance, trots, gallops, neighs, etc.). The beautiful forms and movements of bodies are the ordered result and manifestation of the imprinted numbers that constitute and regulate their actions.
B) Spiritual Beings
In spiritual beings (such as the human soul), ethical matters are not necessary. They regulate moral action but do not determine it. Therefore, their expression of illumination or formation is free and personal, dependent on the individual’s positive or negative choice.
1. Positive Choice (Conversion)
Augustine calls a positive choice conversion (“turning inward”), as the person turns towards their own nature, becoming their true self. “The person achieves enlightenment, the second formation, and becomes a formed and perfect creature.” This is the individual who knows God with true knowledge, loves Him with true love, and is therefore wise, happy, free, and resembles their origin, which is God.
2. Negative Option (Aversion)
The negative option is termed aversion, as the person turns away from their own nature, “is not themself.” The individual is deprived of the second formation and becomes a deformed creature. This is the person who loves themself above God, and is therefore unhappy, ignorant of themself and God, and lives far from their origin, in the region of dissimilarity. However, with the grace (help) of God, they can leave this state of deformity through a new conversion and be re-formed.