Augustin d’Hippone
Pour Augustin, la vérité se trouve en se tournant vers l’intérieur, où Dieu est présent ; nous ne pouvons être bons par notre seule volonté mais avons besoin de la grâce.
Repères
Né à Thagaste, en Afrique du Nord romaine (aujourd’hui l’Algérie), plus tard évêque d’Hippone : il a uni néoplatonisme et christianisme ; ses « Confessions » devinrent le modèle d’une autobiographie de l’intériorité.
Idées clés
- Vérité intérieure
- Grâce et volonté
- Les deux cités
- Le temps comme distension de l’âme
Ouvrir dans la carte stellaire
Influence
Influences reçues de 3
Platon
influencé par ✓
Augustine knew Plato mainly through the ‘books of the Platonists’ and ranked them closest to Christianity for their incorporeal God (Confessions VII; City of God VIII). Augustine, Confessions VII.9.13–10.16; City of God VIII.4–10; SEP “Augustine”
Platon › 428–348 av. J.-C.
Cicéron
influencé par
Augustine wrote that reading Cicero’s lost Hortensius at nineteen turned him to the love of wisdom and changed his prayers (Confessions III.4). Augustine, Confessions III.4.7–8; SEP “Augustine”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Cicéron › 106–43 av. J.-C.
Plotin
influencé par
Augustine took from Plotinus, read in Latin, the turn inward and upward to an immaterial God and evil as privation of good (Confessions VII). Augustine, Confessions VII.9.13–10.16, VII.12.18; Plotinus, Enneads I.6, I.8; SEP “Augustine”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Plotin › 204–270
A influencé 26
Boèce
a influencé ✓
In the preface to his tractate On the Trinity Boethius asked readers to judge whether seeds of argument from Augustine’s writings had borne fruit in his own. Boethius, De Trinitate, preface; SEP “Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Boèce › v. 477–524
Thomas d’Aquin
a influencé ✓
Aquinas read Augustine’s doctrine of divine illumination as the God-given natural light of the agent intellect (Summa theologiae I q. 84 a. 5). Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I q. 84 a. 5; SEP “Divine Illumination”; SEP “Thomas Aquinas”
Thomas d’Aquin › v. 1225–1274
Blaise Pascal
a influencé ✓
Pascal’s Pensées (1670) build on Augustine’s doctrine of a human nature fallen through original sin and restored only by grace, which he knew through Jansenius and Port-Royal. B. Pascal, Pensées (1670); Écrits sur la grâce; SEP “Blaise Pascal”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Blaise Pascal › 1623–1662
Nicolas Malebranche
a influencé ✓
Malebranche invoked Augustine’s doctrine of illumination for his thesis that we see all things in God (The Search after Truth, 1674–75). N. Malebranche, De la recherche de la vérité (1674–75); SEP “Nicolas Malebranche”
Nicolas Malebranche › 1638–1715
Martin Heidegger
a influencé
Heidegger’s lecture ‘Augustinus und der Neuplatonismus’ (1921; publ. 1995) read Confessions X on care (curare) and temptation, motifs taken up in Being and Time (1927). M. Heidegger, Phänomenologie des religiösen Lebens (lectures 1920–21; publ. 1995); Sein und Zeit (1927); SEP “Martin Heidegger”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Hannah Arendt
a influencé ✓
Arendt wrote a dissertation on Augustine’s concept of love (1929) and derived natality from his ‘that there be a beginning, man was created’ (The Human Condition, 1958). H. Arendt, Der Liebesbegriff bei Augustin (1929); The Human Condition (1958); Augustine, De civitate Dei XII; SEP “Hannah Arendt”
Hannah Arendt › 1906–1975
Tout afficher (26)Afficher moins
Jean Scot Érigène
a influencé ✓
In On Divine Predestination (851) Eriugena argued from Augustine against Gottschalk’s double predestination; Periphyseon weighs Augustine against the Greek Fathers. John Scottus Eriugena, De divina praedestinatione (851); Periphyseon; SEP “John Scottus Eriugena”
Attestation: aussi dans Wikidata · Wikidata
Jean Scot Érigène › v. 815–877
Anselme de Cantorbéry
a influencé
In the Monologion’s preface Anselm said that nothing in it disagrees with the Fathers, especially Augustine’s De Trinitate, whose image of the Trinity in the mind he used. Anselm, Monologion (1076), prologue; SEP “Saint Anselm”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Anselme de Cantorbéry › 1033–1109
Pierre Abélard
a influencé
Abelard’s Sic et non set conflicting patristic texts, many from Augustine, side by side, and his ethics of intention built on Augustine’s view of sin as consent. Abelard, Sic et non; Scito te ipsum (Ethics); SEP “Peter Abelard”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Pierre Abélard › 1079–1142
Hildegarde de Bingen
a influencé contesté
Hildegard’s theology of creation and the soul shows Augustinian traits, absorbed through monastic reading; as she alludes to rather than cites the Fathers, direct reading is disputed. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (1151); A. Meis Wörmer, ‘Influencia agustiniana en la comprensión de la racionalidad de Hildegard von Bingen (s. XII)’, Peregrino 23 (2002)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Hildegarde de Bingen › 1098–1179
Bonaventure de Bagnoregio
a influencé
Following Augustine, Bonaventure read creatures as traces of God and the mind as his image, through which knowledge leads back to its source (Itinerarium mentis in Deum, 1259). Bonaventure, Itinerarium mentis in Deum (1259); SEP “Saint Bonaventure”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Bonaventure de Bagnoregio › v. 1221–1274
Raymond Lulle
a influencé
Llull built his Art on the Augustinian triad of the soul’s powers – memory, understanding and will – which are to remember, know and love God. R. Llull, Ars generalis ultima (1305–08); A. Bonner, The Art and Logic of Ramon Llull (2007); SEP “Ramon Llull”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Raymond Lulle › v. 1232–1316
Maître Eckhart
a influencé
Eckhart radicalised Augustine’s turn inward – God more inward than our inmost self – into the birth of God in the ground of the soul. Augustine, Confessions III.6.11; Meister Eckhart, German sermons; SEP “Meister Eckhart”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Maître Eckhart › v. 1260–1328
Julienne de Norwich
a influencé contesté
Colledge and Walsh note parallels to Augustine, Bernard and William of St-Thierry in Julian’s Showings; whether the self-described ‘unlettered’ Julian read Augustine herself is disputed. Julian of Norwich, A Book of Showings, ed. E. Colledge and J. Walsh (Toronto, 1978), introduction
Attestation: brouillon IA
Julienne de Norwich › v. 1343–1416
Christine de Pizan
a influencé
Christine’s Book of the City of Ladies (1405) takes up the image of Augustine’s City of God, building an allegorical city of women from exemplary lives. Christine de Pizan, Le Livre de la Cité des Dames (1405); M. Quilligan, The Allegory of Female Authority (1991)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Christine de Pizan › v. 1364–1430
Érasme
a influencé
Erasmus edited Augustine’s collected works (Basel, 1528–29), though as an interpreter of Scripture he preferred Jerome and Origen. Erasmus (ed.), Augustini opera (Froben, Basel 1528–29); SEP “Desiderius Erasmus”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Érasme › v. 1466–1536
Juan Luis Vivès
a influencé
At Erasmus’ suggestion Vives wrote a learned commentary on Augustine’s City of God, explaining its historical and philosophical references, printed in Basel in 1522. J. L. Vives, Commentarii in XXII libros De civitate Dei (Basel, 1522); SEP “Juan Luis Vives”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Juan Luis Vivès › 1493–1540
Thérèse d’Ávila
a influencé
Teresa described reading Augustine’s Confessions around 1554 as a turning point: she saw herself in his conversion in the garden and wept (Book of Her Life, ch. 9). Teresa of Ávila, Libro de la vida (1565), ch. 9; Augustine, Confessions VIII.12
Attestation: brouillon IA
Thérèse d’Ávila › 1515–1582
René Descartes
a influencé
Shown Augustine’s ‘if I am mistaken, I exist’ (City of God), Descartes acknowledged the parallel but stressed his different use of it (letter to Colvius, 1640). R. Descartes, letter to A. Colvius (Nov. 1640); Augustine, De civitate Dei (si fallor, sum); SEP “Saint Augustine”
Attestation: brouillon IA
René Descartes › 1596–1650
Antoine Arnauld
a influencé
Arnauld defended Jansenius’ Augustinian doctrine of grace and in the Fourth Objections (1641) noted that Augustine had anticipated Descartes’ cogito (On Free Choice of the Will). A. Arnauld, Fourth Objections to Descartes’ Meditationes (1641); Augustine, De libero arbitrio; SEP “Antoine Arnauld”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Antoine Arnauld › 1612–1694
Juana Inés de la Cruz
a influencé
In her Athenagoric Letter (1690) Sor Juana defended Augustine’s view that Christ’s greatest proof of love was to die, together with those of Thomas Aquinas and John Chrysostom, against the Jesuit preacher António Vieira, who had claimed to surpass all three. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Carta atenagórica (Crisis de un sermón, 1690); A. Vieira, Sermão do Mandato (1650)
Attestation: brouillon IA
Juana Inés de la Cruz › v. 1648–1695
Edmund Husserl
a influencé
Husserl opened his lectures on inner time-consciousness (1905; ed. Heidegger, 1928) with Augustine’s Confessions XI and closed the Cartesian Meditations (1931) with his ‘in te redi’. E. Husserl, Vorlesungen zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewußtseins (ed. M. Heidegger, 1928); Méditations cartésiennes (1931); SEP “Edmund Husserl”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Edmund Husserl › 1859–1938
Max Scheler
a influencé
Scheler took from Augustine the primacy of love over knowledge and the ordo amoris structuring a person’s values (‘Liebe und Erkenntnis’, 1915; ‘Ordo amoris’, publ. 1933). M. Scheler, “Liebe und Erkenntnis” (1915); “Ordo amoris” (written c. 1916; publ. 1933); SEP “Max Scheler”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Max Scheler › 1874–1928
Albert Camus
a influencé
Camus’s diploma thesis Christian Metaphysics and Neoplatonism (1936) studied Augustine’s answer to the problem of evil and the passage from Greek thought to Christianity. A. Camus, Métaphysique chrétienne et néoplatonisme (1936); SEP “Albert Camus”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Albert Camus › 1913–1960
Paul Ricœur
a influencé
Ricœur opened Time and Narrative (1983) with Augustine’s analysis of time in Confessions XI, whose distentio animi he answered with Aristotle’s concordant emplotment. P. Ricœur, Temps et récit I (1983); Augustine, Confessiones XI; SEP “Augustine of Hippo”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Paul Ricœur › 1913–2005
Martin Luther King Jr.
a influencé
King invoked Augustine’s maxim that ‘an unjust law is no law at all’ to justify openly breaking segregation laws (Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963). M. L. King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (1963), in Why We Can’t Wait (1964); Augustine, De libero arbitrio I
Attestation: brouillon IA
Martin Luther King Jr. › 1929–1968
Critique
Critiques reçues de 1
Ludwig Wittgenstein a influencé
a influencé
Wittgenstein used Augustine’s puzzle about time – known until one is asked – as a model of philosophical perplexity (Blue Book, dictated 1933–34; Philosophical Investigations, publ. 1953). L. Wittgenstein, The Blue and Brown Books (dictated 1933–35; publ. 1958); Philosophische Untersuchungen (publ. 1953); Augustine, Confessiones XI; SEP “Ludwig Wittgenstein”
Attestation: aussi dans InPhO · InPhO
critiqué par
Wittgenstein opened the Philosophical Investigations (1953) with Augustine’s account of learning words (Confessions I.8) and criticised its picture that every word names an object. L. Wittgenstein, Philosophische Untersuchungen (1953), §§ 1–3, 32; Augustine, Confessions I.8.13
Attestation: brouillon IA
Ludwig Wittgenstein › 1889–1951
Critiques adressées à 3
Arcésilas de Pitane
a critiqué
In Contra Academicos (386) Augustine argued against the Academic scepticism begun by Arcesilaus that the wise must know truth and that some truths are certain. Augustine, Contra Academicos III.10.23–13.29; SEP “Augustine”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Arcésilas de Pitane › v. 316–241 av. J.-C.
Carnéade
a critiqué
Augustine answered the probabilism of Carneades: whoever has never grasped the truth cannot know what merely resembles it (Contra Academicos, 386). Augustine, Contra Academicos II.7.16–12.27; Cicero, Academica II.98–104
Attestation: brouillon IA
Carnéade › v. 214–129 av. J.-C.
Porphyre de Tyr influencé par
influencé par
Augustine called Porphyry ‘the most learned of the philosophers’ and made his treatise On the Return of the Soul a main interlocutor in City of God X. Augustine, City of God X, XIX.22; Porphyry, De regressu animae (fragments); SEP “Porphyry”
Attestation: brouillon IA
a critiqué
In City of God X Augustine faulted Porphyry for allowing theurgy and for rejecting Christ as the universal way of the soul’s return. Augustine, De civitate Dei X.9–11, X.23–32; SEP “Porphyry”
Attestation: brouillon IA
Porphyre de Tyr › v. 234–305
Œuvres
- v. 400Les Confessions
L’autobiographie d’une âme – avec la célèbre méditation sur le temps au livre XI.
- v. 426La Cité de Dieu
L’histoire du monde comme lutte de deux royaumes : la cité terrestre et la cité céleste.
Position
Augustin fusionna la foi chrétienne avec la philosophie platonicienne et est souvent tenu pour le théologien le plus influent de l’Occident latin. Dans les Confessions, il explore le cœur inquiet qui ne trouve la paix qu’en Dieu et analyse la mémoire et le temps comme une « distension » de l’âme. Contre les manichéens, il soutenait que le mal n’a pas de substance propre, mais est une privation de bien ; contre les pélagiens, il insistait sur le fait que les humains ne peuvent être sauvés sans la grâce divine. Dans la Cité de Dieu, il interprète l’histoire comme le combat entre la cité terrestre, bâtie sur l’amour de soi, et la cité de Dieu, bâtie sur l’amour de Dieu.
Vie et contexte
Augustin naquit à Thagaste, en Afrique du Nord, étudia la rhétorique à Carthage et enseigna à Rome et à Milan. Après des années comme adepte du manichéisme, puis la rencontre d’écrits néoplatoniciens et de la prédication d’Ambroise, il se convertit au christianisme en 386. De 395 jusqu’à sa mort en 430, pendant le siège de la ville par les Vandales, il fut évêque d’Hippone.
Autres œuvres principales
- Du libre arbitre (388–395)
- La Trinité (v. 400–420)
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