ABSTRACT
The aim of this article is to analyze the issue of the extension and the content of the illumination once the regulationist interpretation for the theory of knowledge of Augustine is adopted. Regulationism, a thesis advocated by Etienne Gilson, states that the divine illumination of the human intellect concerns the necessary character of the knowledge attained by intelligence, not the content of knowledge; Thus, illumination would not have it as an auxiliary function in the formation of concepts, but would have the function of judging the adequacy of these concepts to the truth. However, interpretations of this kind bring with it a problem regarding human cognitive autonomy, given the intellect would be constrained externally in relation to its knowledge. We will also deal with the criticism about the exaggerated emphasis on epistemology in which the regulationist hypothesis reverberates. Finally, and according to regulationism, we will seek to give a coherent answer to the issue of the extension of knowledge from illumination, respecting both the uniqueness of human reasoning and the primacy of divine knowledge.
Keywords
illumination; rule; notion; knowledge