Augustine
For Augustine, truth is found by turning inward, where God is present; we cannot be good by our own will alone but need grace.
Placement
Born in Thagaste in Roman North Africa (today’s Algeria), later bishop of Hippo: joined Neoplatonism and Christianity; his “Confessions” became the model for an autobiography of inwardness.
Key ideas
- Inner truth
- Grace and will
- Two cities
- Time as distension of the soul
Influence
Influenced by 3
Plato
influenced by ✓
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”
Plato › 428–348 BCE
Cicero
influenced by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Cicero › 106–43 BCE
Plotinus
influenced by
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”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Plotinus › 204–270
Influenced 26
Boethius
influenced ✓
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”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Boethius › c. 477–524
Thomas Aquinas
influenced ✓
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 Aquinas › c. 1225–1274
Blaise Pascal
influenced ✓
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”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Blaise Pascal › 1623–1662
Nicolas Malebranche
influenced ✓
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
influenced
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”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976
Hannah Arendt
influenced ✓
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
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John Scotus Eriugena
influenced ✓
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”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
John Scotus Eriugena › c. 815–877
Anselm of Canterbury
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Anselm of Canterbury › 1033–1109
Peter Abelard
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Peter Abelard › 1079–1142
Hildegard of Bingen
influenced disputed
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Hildegard of Bingen › 1098–1179
Bonaventure
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Bonaventure › c. 1221–1274
Ramon Llull
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Ramon Llull › c. 1232–1316
Meister Eckhart
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Meister Eckhart › c. 1260–1328
Julian of Norwich
influenced disputed
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
Evidence: AI draft
Julian of Norwich › c. 1343–1416
Christine de Pizan
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Christine de Pizan › c. 1364–1430
Erasmus of Rotterdam
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Erasmus of Rotterdam › c. 1466–1536
Juan Luis Vives
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Juan Luis Vives › 1493–1540
Teresa of Ávila
influenced
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
Evidence: AI draft
Teresa of Ávila › 1515–1582
René Descartes
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
René Descartes › 1596–1650
Antoine Arnauld
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Antoine Arnauld › 1612–1694
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
influenced
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)
Evidence: AI draft
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz › c. 1648–1695
Edmund Husserl
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Edmund Husserl › 1859–1938
Max Scheler
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Max Scheler › 1874–1928
Albert Camus
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Albert Camus › 1913–1960
Paul Ricœur
influenced
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Paul Ricœur › 1913–2005
Martin Luther King Jr.
influenced
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
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Luther King Jr. › 1929–1968
Criticism
Criticized by 1
Ludwig Wittgenstein influenced
influenced
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”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised by
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
Evidence: AI draft
Ludwig Wittgenstein › 1889–1951
Criticizes 3
Arcesilaus
criticised
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Arcesilaus › c. 316–241 BCE
Carneades
criticised
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
Evidence: AI draft
Carneades › c. 214–129 BCE
Porphyry influenced by
influenced by
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”
Evidence: AI draft
criticised
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”
Evidence: AI draft
Porphyry › c. 234–305
Works
- c. 400Confessions
The autobiography of a soul – including the famous meditation on time in Book XI.
World history as the struggle of two realms: the earthly and the heavenly city.
Position
Augustine fused Christian faith with Platonic philosophy and is often counted the most influential theologian of the Latin West. In the Confessions he explores the restless heart that finds peace only in God and analyses memory and time as a “distension” of the soul. Against the Manichaeans he held that evil has no substance of its own but is a privation of good; against the Pelagians he insisted that humans cannot be saved without divine grace. In the City of God he interprets history as the struggle between the earthly city, built on love of self, and the city of God, built on love of God.
Life & context
Augustine was born in Thagaste in North Africa, studied rhetoric in Carthage and taught in Rome and Milan. After years as a follower of Manichaeism and an encounter with Neoplatonic writings and the preaching of Ambrose, he converted to Christianity in 386. From 395 until his death in 430, during the Vandal siege of the city, he was bishop of Hippo.
Further main works
- On Free Choice of the Will (388–395)
- On the Trinity (c. 400–420)
- The City of God (413–426)
Appears in
- Journey ‘African Philosophy’ · Stop 2 of 10
- Debate ‘War and Peace: When Is Armed Force Justified?’
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