Abstract
Illumination is a prominent feature of the phenomenon of discovery that is at the heart of Polanyi's Personal Knowledge. Illumination is prominent as well in Louis Groarke's "Aristotelian induction" and C. S. Peirce's abduction. This study pursues the question of whether the term has similar meaning across these three contexts. Close examination of what is said about illumination in each of them shows that Groarke assigns an epistemological autonomy to illumination that is recognized by neither Polanyi nor Peirce. Further, Polanyi and Peirce concur in the role assigned to verification and thereby in the importance of temporality and a community of inquiry.