AAP 2026 CONFERENCE: Full Schedule

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4:30pm NZST

Accipere Aude: Autonomy, Illumination, and the Necessity of Epistemic Humility in Immanuel Kant and St Augustine

Thursday July 9, 2026 4:30pm - 5:25pm NZST

Contemporary interpretations of Immanuel Kant often present autonomy as one of the decisive achievements of modern philosophy. By grounding knowledge in the self-legislating use of reason, Kant sought to liberate humanity from intellectual immaturity and dogmatism. Yet his restriction of knowledge to the realm of phenomena also raises an enduring epistemological tension concerning the relation between the finite intellect and transcendent truth. This paper argues that Kant’s transcendental idealism, while methodologically rigorous, risks a form of epistemic enclosure in which reason becomes confined within its own constitutive structures. In response to this tension, I propose Saint Augustine’s doctrine of divine illumination as a necessary complement to the Kantian project. Augustine presents an account of epistemic humility in which the human intellect recognizes that immutable truth cannot be generated autonomously, but must ultimately be received through participation in a higher source of intelligibility. To develop this argument, I place Augustine’s semiotic reflections in De Magistro and his distinction between lux and lumen in dialogue with Kant’s transcendental deduction. This comparison highlights the contrast between an intrinsically receptive intellect and a self-grounding transcendental subject. Drawing on contemporary scholarship, including the critical retrievals of John Milbank and the historical studies of Lydia Schumacher, this study argues that genuine enlightenment requires not only critical autonomy but also receptivity to transcendent truth. Thus, the imperative of sapere aude finds its completion in accipere aude: reason is most fully enlightened not when it encloses itself within its own limits, but when it acknowledges its participation in the Divine Word.

Speakers

Justin Sean Luis Canaria

Graduate Student, Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas

Justin Sean Luis Canaria graduated with an A.B. in Philosophy (2023), Cum Laude, from the Immaculate Conception Major Seminary, Guiguinto, Bulacan.Currently, he is a College Instructor at Pasig Catholic College. He is also pursuing his M.A. in Philosophy at the Graduate School of... Read More →

Thursday July 9, 2026 4:30pm - 5:25pm NZST
MSB1.20

Epistemology, Remote

AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

4:30pm NZST

Justin Sean Luis Canaria

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