Transcendental Prediction In Boethius’ Signification Theory: De Hebdomadibus In The Context Of The Commentaries On Peri Hermeneias

Abstract

In this chapter, the author begins in the twelfth century, when Augustine's 'divine illumination' as manifold metaphor was alive and well and waiting to be applied to the noetic and epistemological ruminations of what we now regard as early Scholastic philosophers. The great intellectual lights of the late-eleventh, early-twelfth century were most often exceptional logicians, but they hardly aspired to an epistemology grounded both in a theory of mind and psychology and in a metaphysics that would make 'divine illumination' doctrinally complete. The chapter concludes by simply reflecting on how hard it is to imagine a Kepler, a Descartes or a Newton not just without Thomas, Scotus, Ockham, Buridan, Oresme–the whole line of non-illuminationists–coming before them but also lacking these latter-day emphasizers of the divine light: Eckhart, Cusanus, Ficino, even Bruno and Campanella. Keywords:Augustine; divine illumination; mind; psychology; Scholastic philosophers