What does connaturality mean?
Connaturality refers to a natural, innate affinity or kinship between things — a belonging-together rooted in their very natures rather than acquired through experience. The word is most at home in scholastic and Thomistic philosophy, where it carries a precise technical sense: knowledge 'by connaturality' is understanding gained through one's own dispositions and inclinations rather than through abstract reasoning. On this view, a compassionate person grasps what compassion means in a way a merely well-informed observer cannot, because the virtue itself shapes the knower. Outside philosophy, the word appears occasionally in literary criticism and psychology to describe deep temperamental affinities between people, or between an artist and a subject. Formal and somewhat rarefied in register, connaturality rewards readers interested in how thinkers have distinguished knowing about something from knowing it from within.
nounThe quality or state of being connatural — that is, of belonging together by nature or sharing an innate affinity. In scholastic and Thomistic philosophy, it denotes a natural inclination or spontaneous knowledge arising from one's inherent nature rather than from reasoning.
- A natural, innate affinity or kinship between two things or persons.
- (Scholastic philosophy) An intuitive knowledge or judgment arising from one's own nature and inclinations rather than from abstract reasoning.
"The monk's love of prayer seemed a matter of connaturality rather than of learned discipline."
"There is an evident connaturality between the poet's temperament and her subject matter."
"In Thomistic thought, charity enables a person to judge rightly about divine things through connaturality rather than demonstration."
Aquinas argued we can know what divine love is like not by studying it, but by becoming loving ourselves — a way of knowing he called 'by connaturality.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of connaturality
Connaturality derives from the Latin phrase natura, meaning 'birth, character, or nature,' combined with the prefix con-, indicating 'together with.' It came into English through the vocabulary of scholastic theology and philosophy, particularly the tradition surrounding Thomas Aquinas, whose Latin term cognitio per connaturalitatem described knowledge arising from natural affinity. The adjective connatural was established in English earlier; the noun form developed within the same learned context. Its relatives include the everyday words nature, natural, and naturally, all tracing back to the same Latin root.
Related word forms
How connaturality is actually used
A formal, technical word used chiefly in theology, scholastic philosophy, and academic writing; rare in everyday speech.
Easily confused with connaturality
Consanguinity means shared descent by blood (kinship), whereas connaturality means an inborn affinity of nature or temperament.