Quasi Experimentalis Cognitio: A Historical Approach to the Meaning of St. Thomas

I is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that the just man enjoys a quasi-experimental of the divine Persons inhabiting his soul. A historical investigation of St. Thomas' meaning reveals that two modern and important Thomistic interpretations—those of A. Gardeil, O.P., and R. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.—are in fact gratuitous, lacking solid foundation in the writings of St. Thomas. The purpose of these pages is to present the evidence that leads to this judgment. To this end we intend, first, to summarize briefly three modern interpretations of quasi experimentalis cognitio. Secondly, we shall study the notion of in the writings of the principal Scholastics immediately preceding and coeval with St. Thomas; in this way we shall learn what the term experimental knowledge meant at the time St. Thomas was writing his theology. Finally, in the light of this historical context we shall re-examine the pertinent texts of St. Thomas.