Étienne Gilson On the Augustinian Notion of Illuminatio and the Hermeneutical Discussion on Sui Generis

Abstract

Augustine of Hippo’s theory of knowledge revolves around the notion of illumination. Beyond analogy, however, Augustine makes little effort to specify how exactly this illumination could take place. The open nature of Augustinian epistemology has given rise, throughout history, to different and difficult-to-reconcile readings: mainly, the Avicennian, the ontologist and the Thomistic. In 1929, Étienne Gilson published his widely known study Introduction à l’étude de Saint Augustin, with which he proposed a radically different reading, based on a substantial change in the orientation of the main question. Gilson observes that, according to Augustine’s texts, it is not possible to answer the question of how illumination takes place, and we must content ourselves with asking why knowledge is possible. One of the crucial aspects involved in this debate is how the expression sui generis should be translated in a widely commented fragment of De Trinitate (XII, 15, 24). Beyond the description of the main positions defended in this hermeneutical dispute, in this study we propose philological reasons that incline us to endorse Gilson’s reading.