St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

A. Review

1. The roles of reason and will in philosophical inquiry: four conceptions
2. Why Augustine?

B. The Confessions in general

1. The Confessions as autobiography

2. Some main themes [from books 1-3]

C. Twelve Phases of Augustine's Life

• 1. The roles of reason and affection (or will) in philosophical (or intellectual) inquiry: four conceptions
  
  
• Enlightenment (or Modernist): The ideal is to proceed on the basis of "pure" or "cool" reason alone and to make inquiry as free from affection and authority as possible. This is initially accompanied by a robust optimism about the reliability of reason and its ability to lead us to true wisdom on its own [Descartes, Cleanthes, Mill, Augustine at the beginning of his Manichean phase]; but it can easily be turned to skepticism and even pragmatic indifference to the search for wisdom when this optimism proves unwarranted [Philo in his more cheerful and superficial moments, Augustine at the end of his Manichean phase].
  
  
• Post-Enlightenment (or Post-Modernist): It is a delusion to think of the search for wisdom as anything but a movement of will or instinct, with reason serving only as an instrument to rationalize what one already accepts without reasonable grounds. Characterized by both (i) a seriousness with regard to ultimate metaphysical and moral questions and (ii) a suspicion regarding any claim to intellectual authority, including the so-called [sneer stage left] authority of reason [Nietzsche, Philo in his darker and more profound moments].
  
  
• Classical: At its best, philosophical inquiry is an act of reason, presupposing moral rectitude, by which we are able to discover--within severe limitations--metaphysical and moral truth.  What's more, in aiming at truth reason is seeking the same goal (viz., God) that our well-ordered affections are aimed at in seeking the good. This is why friendship provides the best context for intellectual inquiry [Socrates, Plato, Aristotle]. In addition, inquiry is at the service of a community of intertwined friendships.
  
  
• Christian: At its best, philosophical inquiry is an act of reason enlightened by a voluntary act of faith in divine revelation as a source of truth and informed by supernatural moral rectitude (charity); once again, in aiming at truth reason is seeking the same goal (viz., God) that our well-ordered affections are aimed at in seeking the good. This is why friendship provides the best context for intellectual inquiry, though in this case the friendship is the supernatural union of the divine and the human and the consequent supernatural union among human inquirers.  (The relevant community here is the ecclesia, i.e., the Church) Beyond this there are disagreements among (i) the pessimists, who hold that reason in its fallen state is at best very unreliable with respect to metaphysical and moral truth [Demea], and (ii) the guarded optimists, who hold that reason, even in the state of fallen nature, still retains its own relative autonomy and its ability to discover some important metaphysical and moral truths [Aquinas and, in the end, Augustine].

• 2. Why Augustine?

a. Flirtation with all the above conceptions of philosophical inquiry

b. The existential account of the search for truth embodied in an individual human life

c. The clear interplay of intellectual with affective elements in the search for wisdom

d. A clearer conception of what is involved in the ideal of the saint, especially in light of our treatment of Nietzsche

• 1.The Confessions as autobiography


• The perspective from which the Confessions are written
  
  
• The purpose for which the Confessions are written
  
  
• The genre of the Confessions



• 2. Some main themes (compare with Nietzsche) 

(in references roman numerals are book numbers and arabic numbers are chapter numbers)

1. Happiness as repose in truth and goodness [I,1]
   
   
2. The presence and hiddenness of God [I,4; I,12; II,3; V,8]
   
   
3. The moral and intellectual blindness caused by sin [II,1-2; III,5; III,8]
   
   
4. The dangers of radical self-deception [IV,1-2; IV,7]
   
   
5. God's persistence and mercy (the Prodigal Son) [I,18; I,20]
   
   
6. The role of providence in turning evil toward good [IV,14; V,8]
   
   
7. "I did not know this then" [IV, 13]

PHASE ONE:

Augustine as a student and teacher preferring style and form over content [I,19; IV, 14]


PHASE TWO:

Augustine as a sophist [IV,1-2]


PHASE THREE:

The discovery of philosophy: confusions in metaphysics and morals, but a clear and abiding sense of the emptiness of his life up to now -- especially because he has been oblivious to the search for wisdom [III, 4-6]

Age: 19-28

PHASE FOUR:


Manicheanism

• The attractions of Manicheanism
  
  
• Method:
  
  
• The rejection of intellectual authority
• Reliance on reason alone
• Optimism about the ability of reason to find metaphysical and moral truth



• Doctrine:


• The materiality of everything, including God
• Cosmological dualism: two infinite beings, one good and one evil
• Determinism: no responsibility for sin [V,10]
• Disdain for the Bible [III,5]




• Significant reflections
  
  
• The death of a friend [IV,4-6]
• The futility of goods of the soul if not ordered toward God
• friendship [IV,9]
• intelligence [IV,16; V,4]
• The encounter with Faustus: faith vs. reason [V,6-7]

Age: 30

PHASE FIVE:

Academic skepticism



• Holds on to the rejection of authority but becomes pessimistic about the ability of reason to lead to true wisdom......though some attachments to Manicheanism linger [V,10; V,14]
• Fear of dying without finding the truth
• Ultimate inability to repose in skepticism [VI,4]

Lingering question: Which is more essential to happiness--searching for the truth or finding the truth?


PHASE SIX:

Questions the rejection of epistemic and moral authority



• The inescapability of trust [VI,5-6]
• The bewildered soul [VI,11]

Conclusion: The question is not whether to accept authority, but rather which authority to accept


PHASE SEVEN:

Clear formulation of the intellectual difficulties surrounding the Catholic faith



• The immateriality of God and the soul [VII,1; VII,4]
• Freedom of the will and moral conflict [VII,2]. (See note on astrology, VII,6)
• The nature of evil [VII,5; VII,7]


PHASE EIGHT:

Help from the Platonists



• The value of and limitations of pagan philosophy [VII,9]
• The nature of God and creatures: from incorruptibility to immateriality and the hierarchy of being [VII,11; VII,17-18].
• The nature of evil:
  
  
• Evil is not a positive substance. (That is, it is not the case that x is evil = x has the quality E.) [VII,12]
• Evil is an absence of a good that ought to be there. (That is, x is evil = x lacks some quality Q which it should have.) [VII,16]


PHASE NINE:

The study of Sacred Scripture

• The limitations of Platonism: Knowledge but not charity [VII,20-21]
• The integration of reason and will [VII,17].
• Contra Nietzsche [VII,18]


PHASE TEN:

Intellectual obstacles to faith removed, but not affective obstacles

• The weight of habit [VIII,1; VIII,5]
• The divided will [VIII,9-10].

Age: 31

PHASE ELEVEN:

Conversion



• The power of the example of others:


• Victorinus [VIII,2]
• Ponticianus's friends [VIII,6-7]
• St. Antony the Hermit [VIII,6]
• Simplicianus [VIII,1ff.]
• Monica
  
  
• Summing up [VIII,7]
  
  
• "Tolle et lege!" [VIII,12]


PHASE TWELVE:

Reassessment (compare with Nietzsche's Free Spirit)

• Resentment ..... and yet pity [IX,4]
• Disgust ..... and yet thankfulness [IX,4]
• Trembling ..... and yet joy [IX,4]