The epistemology of Richard of Saint-Victor is characterised through a detailed analysis of contemplatio, the highest mode of human knowledge. Contemplatio culminates in an ecstasy, in which man reaches the highest object of his knowledge, God himself, and is fulfilled by true spiritual pleasure. This plenitude of spiritual pleasure is not just the fruit of knowledge, but fed by love. Richard distinguishes three paths of knowledge in accordance with the growth of the love between God and man. The love of (...) God gives an orientation to human knowledge. Through the love of God human knowledge is structured from disoriented cogitatio to oriented meditatio as a spiritual ascent to the divine things supported by virtues, then finally to contemplatio, which culminates in ecstasy with true spiritual pleasure. So the essence of true spiritual pleasure reflects the structural key of the highest knowledge, contemplatio, namely the love of God. (shrink)