Chisholm follow-up

Alaska was great. I had time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack: leaving today for the Princeton Seminar on Thomism and Analytic Philosophy put on by the Witherspoon Institute. It should be awesome.

In my previous post it was indeed Hugh of St. Victor to whom Chisholm was referring. The reference is Chisholm's 2nd edition of Theory of Knowledge p. 133 and his reference is to Maurice De Wulf, History of Medieval Philosophy (1935), p. 214. Here's the mention:

"Thus, Hugh of St. Victor held, in the twelfth century, that in addition to the oculis carnis, by means of which we know the physical world, and the oculis rationis, by means of which we know our own states of mind, there is also an oculis contemplationis, by means of which we know the truths of religion."

One thing that is interesting about Chisholm's comments on the oculis contemplationis is that when in the 3rd edition of Theory of Knowledge he is explicitly discussing his epistemic principles (p. 73) he mentions that some people will want more, some fewer epistemic principles--Chisholm only provides them for memory and perception. He explicitly mentions the "religious intuitionist" who "adds that certain other thoughts and feelings justify us in believing that there is a persona God."

Now what I find interesting about this is that the person who likes Plantinga's use of the Aquinas/Calvin model don't need to embed that in his wider externalist epistemology. In fact, if I'm reading Chisholm correctly here, there remains the possibility--though it might be a hard programme--to argue for an additional epistemic principle to "insert" right onto the standard Chisholmian principle (I'd want to insert a principle having to do with rational insight anyway).

Frankly, I find this a plausible approach to "perceiving God" and plan to try to pursue it a bit when I get the chance.