Iamblichus on Divine Divination and Human Intuition

This chapter examines the thoughts of Neoplatonist Iamblichus on divination. Neoplatonists take the discussions of the master as an invitation to understand a newly reconfigured idea of divination as much more than a comparandum , but as itself a vehicle to reveal philosophical knowledge on large questions. Iamblichus speaks about a new, “true” kind of divination, through assimilation to the divine, which yields sweeping knowledge of the philosophical underpinnings of the universe as a whole, and which is possible only through the most thorough eschewing of any bodily connection. In the school's most robust discussion, Iamblichus defines this new kind, consistently, in contrast to the tentative knowledge available by traditional divinatory practice.