The Reformed Epistemology of John Calvin: Sensus Divinitatis as the fundamental Knowledge

In Institutes 1.3.1 Calvin famously describe that all man have indeed some knowledge of God beyond dispute. Calvin's idea is expressed in latin as Sensus Divinitatis which means, the sense of  Diety  For Calvin, this sense of God is fundamental to one knowledge. He says whilst quoting half of Cicero dialogue,  "But, as a heathen tells us, there is no nation so barbarous, no race so brutish, as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God". Here, Calvin was in line with Cicero's (Nat.d.2.13) notion of the prolepsis of God, an idea that God has been embedded in humanity and "inscribed upon the mind" (Calvin prefer to use heart). As implication of this conception, Calvin has not written enormously cerebral argument to proof the existence of God like what Aquinas for instance did. He only give a little attention of it, for the knowledge of God is already assumed at the beginning. 

Calvin's Epistemology follows the of classical Metaphysics fashion of Plato. Soul in man is the higher entity than body. Soul is the thing that guard and hold the identity in man as the Imago Dei and the Imago Dei in man is the inevitable factor that crate the basic belief in man that God exits.It is an innate knowledge and not something add on as Calvin boldly describe that this knowledge, is not a doctrine we first learn at school but from the "womb" (I.3.3). If  there are happened to be some atheists or people who does not have an immediate perception or awareness of God is because of sin has darkened man fundamental knowledge yet deeply in their heart according to Calvin, they still have a tinny fracture of the conscience of God but they have been projecting it elsewhere as Calvin in Institutes 1.3.2 mentioned that the case of idolatry, is the adequate prove of this universal reality. As consequence, everyone has an obligatory to worship God and will be held accountable by God despite their current status as religious or non religious. Calvin fundamental knowledge in the Epistemological realm is fall into the camp of Innatism rather than Empricism. 

Apparently, the conception of the fundamental knowledge of God could be dissonance in  some philosophers thought. Take for instance John Locke who argue that the idea of innate knowledge  or Innatism cannot be justifiable.  The reason why Locke defend the view that knowledge is acquired rather than inherent is to hinder the dogmatism and ignorance in thinking. Locke says it is "false and frivolous" to say that everyone have certain presupposition at the very beginning endowed with reason".  All knowledges according to Locke, are hence acquired thorough sensory experience (Empirical Theory of Knowledge). Locke's view seems reasonable. One simple argument against Innatism is that, since there is no universally held ideas hence, no innate knowledge per se. However, Philosopher has examined that actually there are some visible example of the innate knowledge that is universal, contrary to Locke's claim. Peter Carruthers, a British Philosophers presented on how there are some innate knowledge in human being, encoded in gene. For instance, 3-4 month baby shift their mind from seeing object as something that just exits to see object as something that they can relate with. They began to search the object that they thrown away. The other prove of the possibility of innatism is through the notion of number. Everyone universally learned or not have a sense of number. The numeral in mathematical study is just an articulation of the preconceived idea of number. Thus, experience is not the only way for people to gain the new knowledge as John Locke but often times, it rather trigger and bring out something that already innate.

Moreover, the further support can be seen in the history humanity. Ronald L. Numbers an American historian even says, "even in the United States, one of the most scientifically literate nations on earth at the end of the twentieth century, nearly 90 percent of the population remained devoted to theism." Thus, It is better rationale to think that the 10 percent of disbelief is in ignorance of the innate fundamental belief in God, rather than to say that 90 percent people in the twentieth to century past, has been all deluded vastly. In conclusion, if there is a possibility of innate knowledge, in the sama manner we cannot deny the fact that there could be a high possibility of the innate and fundamental knowledge of God as well, as like what Calvin says in the Institutes.

At the end, If Calvin conception of the fundamental knowledge of God is true, as implication, every man should judge every knowledge and live with this lens of divine. Moreover, the sense of deity in humanity should weary them, and drive them to long for God who create them. Nonetheless, one could follow the stream of restlessness and found God or they could fight against and eventually missed him. The knowledge of God is already there in us but at the end, it a matter of human choice, to deny or to embrace. To deny is to follow the sinful nature and to embrace is to be captivated by work of the amazing Grace.