"Nulla notitia scientifica de veris huiusmodi repugnat statui viatoris". Giovanni da Ripa e la conoscenza della divina essenza.

In the Prologue to the Commentary on the Sentences, John of Ripa reconstructs from the epistemological point of view the structures of theological knowledge in the function of the beatific vision. After ruling out the possibility that the absolute can communicate itself by way of informatio, John of Ripa puts forward a solution that combines elements from the Averroist tradition with the metaphysical doctrine of immutatio vitalis developed – secondarily – within the doctrine of knowledge. In the case where the object of knowledge is the divine essence, vital transmutation would turn out to be a true process of intellect's divinization. What kind of knowledge could people in the present life have in this regard? A paradoxical possibility of knowledge through ignorance or positive knowledge that enables man to name the divine essence?