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Against the Academicians / The Teacher
These new translations of two treatises dealing with the possibility and nature of knowledge in the face of skeptical challenges are the first to be rendered from the Latin critical edition, the first to be made specifically with a philosophical audience in mind, and the first to be translated by a scholar with expertise in both modern epistemology and philosophy of language.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 387
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561 people want to read
About the author
Augustine of Hippo
3,339 books2,012 followersEarly church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical
Confessions
in 397 and the voluminous
City of God
from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.
An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.
People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."
The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."
Santo Agostinho
An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.
People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."
The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."
Santo Agostinho
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 20, 2016
This review concerns Augustine's The Teacher.
This dialogue works very well for discussions, especially in groups that have read Plato's Meno.
In this dialogue, Augustine gives provocative arguments that we can't learn from words, only from the things the words signify. And then he radicalizes this further: we don't learn even from the things words signify. We learn from our innate ability to recognize wholes or meanings in the things we see, hear and do. (The implicit premise here is that without an ability to see the whole, we would be forever putting together parts, never sure we had arrived at something meaningful or distinct).
Augustine reads this innate ability to recognize wholes together with the idea presented in the New Testament that Christ is the true teacher. The interesting result is that Christ is here grasped as our innate capacity for recognizing wholes. Christ is the capacity for meaning present in the human soul. God, then, is the meaningful world itself and Christ, the inner light that allows us to see it. Not bad, Auggie.
This dialogue works very well for discussions, especially in groups that have read Plato's Meno.
In this dialogue, Augustine gives provocative arguments that we can't learn from words, only from the things the words signify. And then he radicalizes this further: we don't learn even from the things words signify. We learn from our innate ability to recognize wholes or meanings in the things we see, hear and do. (The implicit premise here is that without an ability to see the whole, we would be forever putting together parts, never sure we had arrived at something meaningful or distinct).
Augustine reads this innate ability to recognize wholes together with the idea presented in the New Testament that Christ is the true teacher. The interesting result is that Christ is here grasped as our innate capacity for recognizing wholes. Christ is the capacity for meaning present in the human soul. God, then, is the meaningful world itself and Christ, the inner light that allows us to see it. Not bad, Auggie.
December 3, 2022
Helpful dialogues on philosophy and education. Helpful resource to understand Augustine more.
July 12, 2021
The edition is fine, no faults with that. Good notes and helpful appendix, compiling snippets from Augustine that relate to the larger works.
The implications of "The Teacher" were not clear to me, and Augustine doesn't really spell out what they are. His thesis is that nobody really learns, in the sense that they acquire new information that wasn't already there, or has been revealed by God. Thus, what is the teachers job?...
To reveal truth, and facilitate learning. NOT to impart knowledge, as if the teacher is a SOURCE of knowledge. Quite profound when you think about it. Of course, we would simply alter our definition of "impart" to mean that ultimately, all knowledge is from God, but a teacher can "know" something revealed, and be God's "means" for importing knowledge.
But, it is important to keep in mind that the teacher is only a midwife, helping to facilitate learning. An implication of this is that if the student isn't learning, you aren't teaching, no matter how many facts you say!
The implications of "The Teacher" were not clear to me, and Augustine doesn't really spell out what they are. His thesis is that nobody really learns, in the sense that they acquire new information that wasn't already there, or has been revealed by God. Thus, what is the teachers job?...
To reveal truth, and facilitate learning. NOT to impart knowledge, as if the teacher is a SOURCE of knowledge. Quite profound when you think about it. Of course, we would simply alter our definition of "impart" to mean that ultimately, all knowledge is from God, but a teacher can "know" something revealed, and be God's "means" for importing knowledge.
But, it is important to keep in mind that the teacher is only a midwife, helping to facilitate learning. An implication of this is that if the student isn't learning, you aren't teaching, no matter how many facts you say!
January 16, 2024
I just finished reading St. Augustine's The Teacher in which, as he sees it, it is actually the spirit of Christ within us that is embodied in the spark of understanding which is achieved when the mind acquires knowledge. This relationship, he says, is itself of a divine nature as, essentially, Jesus Christ speaks to us through this method on the plane of human understanding. In this book Augustine gave me a lot of food for thought about which type of books I should read and write about, more so than simply saying that I should read whatever makes me happy or that I should read that which constitutes what is, in my opinion, 'the good life'. It seems to me that Augustine implies that I should read those books that feed my thirst for knowledge about the being of God - he does not say this explicitly, but that in a general sense is my takeaway.
The question I want to entertain further is, "Is this a text one ought to read?" It seems to me that what books a person "ought to read" is not a satisfying way to live, in terms of setting a course of life. In fact, it seems to me that such a designed pathway often becomes a form of drudgery. As I see it, the counter-argument is that reading is a very enjoyable pastime in which one can delight in learning, and not because one ought to read certain tomes designated as being of literary merit. However, I do think everyone ought to read and that society in general would be better if more of us read more often. But as adults we shouldn't be obligated to read what someone else says we ought to read. Not every author has big things to say, the counter-argument continues. Some authors just have a story to tell. Some authors just want to share some humor. For those of us not personally equipped with a sense of humor, we can still recognize it has its place and that there are readers who need it in their lives. There are so many kinds of things to read, the counter-argument concludes, that reading has a unique social-function and place in the world.
It seems the selection of "ought to read" books become thinner and thinner as time progresses, and what's left of "reading" itself, as an activity that a person devotes time to, is in danger of being increasingly marginalized so that it is becoming relegated to one's years in the educational system, rather than something one actively pursues throughout the course of one's life. What is the status of the books one ought to read in a society where one's life-path seems to be pursued by the harrowing drives to increasing one's economic level and the sense of need for more and more money? In this sense, literature appears to be an empty signifier, as it does not have an ascertainable use-value or that, since it cannot be easily translatable into an applied cash-value, hence, books became status symbols for the interior space of minds, which limits the appeal of any literature which is fundamentally non-shareable according to a community-drive model.
However, there are some of us who still read and still find that attainment of happiness -- Augustine's main concern in this philosophical dialogue -- is derived from the search for wisdom, rather than the achievement of a status that connotes the externalizations of happiness, such as the abundance of luxury goods and products, and this is, as Roland Barthes might put it, the 'pleasure of the text' for the prospectively wealthy, happy producers of an enlightened State. Three stars.
The question I want to entertain further is, "Is this a text one ought to read?" It seems to me that what books a person "ought to read" is not a satisfying way to live, in terms of setting a course of life. In fact, it seems to me that such a designed pathway often becomes a form of drudgery. As I see it, the counter-argument is that reading is a very enjoyable pastime in which one can delight in learning, and not because one ought to read certain tomes designated as being of literary merit. However, I do think everyone ought to read and that society in general would be better if more of us read more often. But as adults we shouldn't be obligated to read what someone else says we ought to read. Not every author has big things to say, the counter-argument continues. Some authors just have a story to tell. Some authors just want to share some humor. For those of us not personally equipped with a sense of humor, we can still recognize it has its place and that there are readers who need it in their lives. There are so many kinds of things to read, the counter-argument concludes, that reading has a unique social-function and place in the world.
It seems the selection of "ought to read" books become thinner and thinner as time progresses, and what's left of "reading" itself, as an activity that a person devotes time to, is in danger of being increasingly marginalized so that it is becoming relegated to one's years in the educational system, rather than something one actively pursues throughout the course of one's life. What is the status of the books one ought to read in a society where one's life-path seems to be pursued by the harrowing drives to increasing one's economic level and the sense of need for more and more money? In this sense, literature appears to be an empty signifier, as it does not have an ascertainable use-value or that, since it cannot be easily translatable into an applied cash-value, hence, books became status symbols for the interior space of minds, which limits the appeal of any literature which is fundamentally non-shareable according to a community-drive model.
However, there are some of us who still read and still find that attainment of happiness -- Augustine's main concern in this philosophical dialogue -- is derived from the search for wisdom, rather than the achievement of a status that connotes the externalizations of happiness, such as the abundance of luxury goods and products, and this is, as Roland Barthes might put it, the 'pleasure of the text' for the prospectively wealthy, happy producers of an enlightened State. Three stars.
August 7, 2019
Augustine's The Teacher is a mind-blowing analysis of the paradoxes of learning and language, and a tour de force performance of the trivium arts of grammar and dialectic.
February 4, 2024
Well, we love a good dialogue format also both easier and harder than Plato. Epistemology (PHIL 4300). Not my favorite but I like the optimism!
May 20, 2025
This slim Hackett edition includes two of Augustine's early dialogues written just after he had given up Manichaeism: "Against the Academicians" and "The Teacher." It also has an immensely useful group of appendices excerpting paragraphs from Augustine's other works on the topic of learning (divine illumination).
The first dialogue involves a group of Augustine's friends and students at Cassiciacum; the second involves his sixteen year old son, Adeodatus. Both are highly interesting; in the "Revisions," Augustine expresses regret over several of his formulations and expressions in the first work. Both deal with semiotics as an attempt to understand how it is the human being learns by divine illumination.
"Against the Academicians" records a conversation held over several days at the quasi-monastic community Augustine began at Cassiciacum after he had rejected the worldly life of a professional rhetorician. In it, he carries on a Socratic dialogue with two main interlocutors on the notion of wisdom, truth, 'truth likeness,' and plausibility. The so-called Academicians were the teachers in the Third Academy dating to the latter half of the 2nd century B.C. and into the 1st century, including such individuals as Carneades and Philo of Larissa, though they traced their Pyrrhonist leanings back to Arcesilaus in the 3rd century. At any rate, for a while Augustine himself was a kind of Academician-skeptic, or at least he greatly sympathized with their general perspective. These men were famous for asserting that they do not and cannot know the truth, but that they seek it by pursuing 'truthlike' or 'plausible' things. Augustine's major points in this dialogue are that whatever is 'truthlike' can only be known because one already knows the truth; otherwise, how could anything be said to be like something that is not known? There would be no model or standard by which to judge anything, so, as Augustine concludes, 'truthlikeness' reveals the Academicians' secret teaching which is that of classic Platonism with its unspoken doctrines. Augustine repeatedly states in this work and in several other places that the skeptics were essentially putting up a smokescreen to guard their sacred doctrines because they did not want the rabble to receive them and perversely corrupt them. In this work Augustine also puts forward his agreement with Plato of the indelible and sensible worlds (3.17.37). Essentially, remembering Plato's analogy of the line, for the world of things only appearances guide us, and this is analogous to how reason guides us to know eternal ideas. Augustine then praises Plato's "visage" which "is the most pure and bright in philosophy" (3.18.41) before also praising Plotinus; "Plato should be thought of as coming to life again in Plotinus." The following paragraph is probably the most interesting in the entire work: "This philosophy is not of this world - the philosophy that our Holy Writ rightly abhors - but that of the other world, the intelligible world. Yet the most subtle chain of reasoning would never call back to this intelligible world souls that have been blinded by the manifold shadows of error and rendered forgetful by the deepest filth from the body, had not God the Highest, moved by a certain compassion for the multitude, humbled and submitted the authority of the Divine Intellect even to the human body itself. Our souls, awakened not only by its precepts but also by its deeds, could return to themselves and regain their homeland without the strip of disputation" (3.19.42). This is the most important paragraph of this early work.
"The Teacher" is also fascinating, in part because it reports a real (and thoroughly brilliant) conversation between Augustine and his son, Adeodatus. Augustine questions his son about "words," "names," and "things." The purpose is to reveal to Adeodatus that all speaking happens to learn or to remind. "Teaching" is actually learning; each time a teacher says something to a student, he is essentially asking a question: "Does this strike you? Do you find this to be true in your intellect?" Then the student remembers (via Platonic anamnesis) and sees that whatever was spoken does or does not conform to the Truth within. At the end, dialogue becomes monologue (as often happens in Platonic works) and Augustine says to his son, "Regarding each of the things we understand, however, we don't consult a speaker who makes sounds outside us, but the Truth that presides within over the mind itself, though perhaps words prompt us to consult Him. What is more, He Who is consulted, He Who is said to dwell in the inner man, does teach: Christ - that is, the unchangeable power and everlasting wisdom of God, which every rational soul does consult, but is disclosed to anyone, to the extent that he can apprehend it, according to his good or evil will. If at times one is mistaken, this doesn't happen by means of a defect in the Truth consulted, just as it isn't a defect in light outside that the eyes of the body are often mistaken - and we admit that we consult this light regarding visible things, that it may show them to us to the extent that we have the ability to make them out" (11.38). Augustine later says that "we should not call anyone on earth our teacher, since there is one in heaven Who is the Teacher of all. Furthermore, He Himself will teach us what 'in heaven' is - He Who prompts us externally through men by means of signs, so that we are instructed to be inwardly turned toward Him. To know and love Him is the happy life which all proclaim they seek, although there are few who may rejoice in having really found it" (13.46).
There has been a debate for forever about the nature of Augustine's theory of divine illumination. Many scholars in the last two centuries have been endlessly debating whether or not Augustine's theory means all knowledge whatsoever (even of my mug in front of me) must come from Christ, or whether Augustine means, rather, knowledge of 'the good life,' or, the 'the way to live,' and thus, ultimately, God. What I have run into is that scholars often read Augustine isolated apart from Plato and Plotinus; I think he mainly shares their views in this regard. Keeping Plato's analogies of the sun and of the line in front of us, Augustine seems to be saying that Christ is the Illuminator of absolutely everything. If He shines upon a thing or a person, we come to know it or him; if He does not shine (because our eyes are darkened by sin), then we cannot come to full knowledge of anything. The theory is divine illumination, not divine intervention. It is not as if Augustine is saying, "Consider this random pagan over here. He knows that his stove is hot. Therefore, Christ zapped into his head such knowledge." This 'knowledge' corresponds to the bottom segment of Plato's line, or, if you like, the recognition of the physical causes of phenomena that we see. It does not correspond to eternal ideas (forms) let alone the Good. Rather, what Augustine seems to mean, is that since Christ is the Truth (John 14:6), everything that resonates or 'rings true' finds its source and goal in Christ (Rom. 11:36). Augustine's view is cosmic and mystical, not interventionist and mechanical. Christ is the radiance of the Father, the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3). He reveals the Good: God alone (Mark 10:18). And so, while anyone can obtain sensible data about things, only Christ the Teacher illuminates truths: the purposes and essences of things.
The first dialogue involves a group of Augustine's friends and students at Cassiciacum; the second involves his sixteen year old son, Adeodatus. Both are highly interesting; in the "Revisions," Augustine expresses regret over several of his formulations and expressions in the first work. Both deal with semiotics as an attempt to understand how it is the human being learns by divine illumination.
"Against the Academicians" records a conversation held over several days at the quasi-monastic community Augustine began at Cassiciacum after he had rejected the worldly life of a professional rhetorician. In it, he carries on a Socratic dialogue with two main interlocutors on the notion of wisdom, truth, 'truth likeness,' and plausibility. The so-called Academicians were the teachers in the Third Academy dating to the latter half of the 2nd century B.C. and into the 1st century, including such individuals as Carneades and Philo of Larissa, though they traced their Pyrrhonist leanings back to Arcesilaus in the 3rd century. At any rate, for a while Augustine himself was a kind of Academician-skeptic, or at least he greatly sympathized with their general perspective. These men were famous for asserting that they do not and cannot know the truth, but that they seek it by pursuing 'truthlike' or 'plausible' things. Augustine's major points in this dialogue are that whatever is 'truthlike' can only be known because one already knows the truth; otherwise, how could anything be said to be like something that is not known? There would be no model or standard by which to judge anything, so, as Augustine concludes, 'truthlikeness' reveals the Academicians' secret teaching which is that of classic Platonism with its unspoken doctrines. Augustine repeatedly states in this work and in several other places that the skeptics were essentially putting up a smokescreen to guard their sacred doctrines because they did not want the rabble to receive them and perversely corrupt them. In this work Augustine also puts forward his agreement with Plato of the indelible and sensible worlds (3.17.37). Essentially, remembering Plato's analogy of the line, for the world of things only appearances guide us, and this is analogous to how reason guides us to know eternal ideas. Augustine then praises Plato's "visage" which "is the most pure and bright in philosophy" (3.18.41) before also praising Plotinus; "Plato should be thought of as coming to life again in Plotinus." The following paragraph is probably the most interesting in the entire work: "This philosophy is not of this world - the philosophy that our Holy Writ rightly abhors - but that of the other world, the intelligible world. Yet the most subtle chain of reasoning would never call back to this intelligible world souls that have been blinded by the manifold shadows of error and rendered forgetful by the deepest filth from the body, had not God the Highest, moved by a certain compassion for the multitude, humbled and submitted the authority of the Divine Intellect even to the human body itself. Our souls, awakened not only by its precepts but also by its deeds, could return to themselves and regain their homeland without the strip of disputation" (3.19.42). This is the most important paragraph of this early work.
"The Teacher" is also fascinating, in part because it reports a real (and thoroughly brilliant) conversation between Augustine and his son, Adeodatus. Augustine questions his son about "words," "names," and "things." The purpose is to reveal to Adeodatus that all speaking happens to learn or to remind. "Teaching" is actually learning; each time a teacher says something to a student, he is essentially asking a question: "Does this strike you? Do you find this to be true in your intellect?" Then the student remembers (via Platonic anamnesis) and sees that whatever was spoken does or does not conform to the Truth within. At the end, dialogue becomes monologue (as often happens in Platonic works) and Augustine says to his son, "Regarding each of the things we understand, however, we don't consult a speaker who makes sounds outside us, but the Truth that presides within over the mind itself, though perhaps words prompt us to consult Him. What is more, He Who is consulted, He Who is said to dwell in the inner man, does teach: Christ - that is, the unchangeable power and everlasting wisdom of God, which every rational soul does consult, but is disclosed to anyone, to the extent that he can apprehend it, according to his good or evil will. If at times one is mistaken, this doesn't happen by means of a defect in the Truth consulted, just as it isn't a defect in light outside that the eyes of the body are often mistaken - and we admit that we consult this light regarding visible things, that it may show them to us to the extent that we have the ability to make them out" (11.38). Augustine later says that "we should not call anyone on earth our teacher, since there is one in heaven Who is the Teacher of all. Furthermore, He Himself will teach us what 'in heaven' is - He Who prompts us externally through men by means of signs, so that we are instructed to be inwardly turned toward Him. To know and love Him is the happy life which all proclaim they seek, although there are few who may rejoice in having really found it" (13.46).
There has been a debate for forever about the nature of Augustine's theory of divine illumination. Many scholars in the last two centuries have been endlessly debating whether or not Augustine's theory means all knowledge whatsoever (even of my mug in front of me) must come from Christ, or whether Augustine means, rather, knowledge of 'the good life,' or, the 'the way to live,' and thus, ultimately, God. What I have run into is that scholars often read Augustine isolated apart from Plato and Plotinus; I think he mainly shares their views in this regard. Keeping Plato's analogies of the sun and of the line in front of us, Augustine seems to be saying that Christ is the Illuminator of absolutely everything. If He shines upon a thing or a person, we come to know it or him; if He does not shine (because our eyes are darkened by sin), then we cannot come to full knowledge of anything. The theory is divine illumination, not divine intervention. It is not as if Augustine is saying, "Consider this random pagan over here. He knows that his stove is hot. Therefore, Christ zapped into his head such knowledge." This 'knowledge' corresponds to the bottom segment of Plato's line, or, if you like, the recognition of the physical causes of phenomena that we see. It does not correspond to eternal ideas (forms) let alone the Good. Rather, what Augustine seems to mean, is that since Christ is the Truth (John 14:6), everything that resonates or 'rings true' finds its source and goal in Christ (Rom. 11:36). Augustine's view is cosmic and mystical, not interventionist and mechanical. Christ is the radiance of the Father, the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3). He reveals the Good: God alone (Mark 10:18). And so, while anyone can obtain sensible data about things, only Christ the Teacher illuminates truths: the purposes and essences of things.
July 14, 2016
I only read The Teacher. This work was excellent! For an interesting application of Augustine's conclusions I recommend Jacques Rancière's Maître Ignorant.
June 16, 2025
In Augustine's case, man himself, not the city-state, is the place where the conversation really takes place; the conversation is not philosophizing in an examination of the opinions of the city-state shuttling between light and dimness, but rather a conflict between the different voices that make up a man; not a tragedy of politics, but a comedy of faith. The dialog focuses on human will and weakness, reason and obscurity, freedom and bondage. And ultimately, it is a profound struggle and confrontation between the “natural” and “unnatural” forces inherent in the self as a stranger.
In a sense, Augustine's dialogue must culminate in the “interius cogitando et loquendo” (inner thinking and speaking) of the human heart in solitude. However, this “conversation”, which must take place in the “self” through the return of the “I” to the “self”, is not a Platonic “conversation”, but a “conversation” in which the ‘I’ returns to the “self”, as it were. However, this “dialog” that must take place in the “self” through the return of the ‘I’ to the “self” is not a Platonic dialog in which the soul asks and answers questions of itself. Rather, it points from the self to God. It is no accident that the bishop of Hippo eventually found the confessio, a more appropriate stylistic form than the dialog.
In a sense, Augustine's dialogue must culminate in the “interius cogitando et loquendo” (inner thinking and speaking) of the human heart in solitude. However, this “conversation”, which must take place in the “self” through the return of the “I” to the “self”, is not a Platonic “conversation”, but a “conversation” in which the ‘I’ returns to the “self”, as it were. However, this “dialog” that must take place in the “self” through the return of the ‘I’ to the “self” is not a Platonic dialog in which the soul asks and answers questions of itself. Rather, it points from the self to God. It is no accident that the bishop of Hippo eventually found the confessio, a more appropriate stylistic form than the dialog.
August 17, 2021
The two dialogues here are quite different, although both are written for the purpose of examining knowledge, epistemology - both if we can know(or be wise - Academics) and how we know(Language - Teacher). I found Against the Academicians to be the better one of these as I enjoyed the discussion of wisdom, one of my favorite topics, but even there it was a little bit too technical at times. I feel both of these are very nitpicky, written by a relatively young Augustine, and neither are there that they are quoting scripture too much as a lot of his later writings. Either way, there is a lot to munch on in both of these depending on your main focus of study. This double feature also contains excerpts from his other writings where these books are refered to.
March 11, 2024
Augustine makes arguments against the Academicians, a group of Skeptics who claim that we should remain non-committal on any issue and we can never know the truth, and only form plausible opinions. The basic argument we encounter against this view is that even to identify what is truth-like or plausible, we already have to have some knowledge of the truth. We know that we exist, and we know that we know we exist. In withholding assent, the skeptic presupposes an ability to know what is true, since the withholding of assent presupposes an idea of truth to which beliefs do not measure up. To say that one's brother is like one's father, without knowing one's father, is nonsense. It is also nonsense to identify a claim as approximating truth, without knowing the truth.
February 18, 2024
I didn't put this on my 'reading' bulletin because it is rather short, and I read it quickly. Yet, what is to be said that hasn't been already said? It's an interesting and fun set of dialogues that gives a look at the beginning of medieval thought concerning epistemology, God, and the philosophy of language. Against the Academicians is, contextually, 'against the skeptics' e.g. Cicero. The intellectual battle is a unique one because the skeptic assents to nothing, and thus, it is a fun mental exercise to attempt to convince the skeptic that he does to assent to something. Augustine claims to have found that something here.
October 30, 2024
I just read De Magistro (from the Library of Christian Classics volume of "Augustine: Early Writings"). Most of this dialogue is fairly taxing to understand, but it does do a very admirable job at showing the relationship between grammar and semiotics. Ultimately, it's just a baptized version of Plato's Meno, which means that I wouldn't necessarily put it on a must-read list of classical or patristic works, but the less opaque insights of the last 10 pages or so are quite humbling and instructive.
December 12, 2025
2 stars
I'm not usually a fan of Saint Augustine. It's usually rather difficult for me to follow his logic, and his claims don't usually resonate with me. I enjoyed seeing how he worked his way up to his claims and supported them with diverse pieces of evidence, however, this read just wasn't for me.
I'm not usually a fan of Saint Augustine. It's usually rather difficult for me to follow his logic, and his claims don't usually resonate with me. I enjoyed seeing how he worked his way up to his claims and supported them with diverse pieces of evidence, however, this read just wasn't for me.
December 9, 2024
Esta claro que no es una de sus mejores obras pero es el inicio de su pensamiento que retoñara con mejores argumentos al pasar del tiempo, no todo el mundo conoce estos tratados pero esto es un buen comienzo para poder comprender sus libros más importantes como lo seria "la ciudad de Dios".
July 24, 2025
This is, by far, the most accessible work by Augustine, due to its dialogue format. It's rather entertaining to think of philosophers, mainly visualized as old (white) men, instead as young men having arguments between meals and snacks and romps.
February 25, 2019
De Magistro 7/10
August 11, 2019
Only read The Teacher which was an insightful dialogue on the limigations and nature of language and learning.
Read
December 8, 2022Very informative for the schools of thought and how they have been growing through philosophy
March 6, 2025
beautiful
November 7, 2022
I just read the second part, The Teacher. Honestly one of the most confusing dialogues I've read. Augustine seems to be imitating Plato, but in a way that is much less clear!!
November 22, 2007
This is actually two books, not one.
Against the Academicians: Augustine's dialog explores the doctrines of Academic Skepticism (represented by Cicero, here), finding fault and once again developing the argument that Descartes later makes famous as teh Cogito.
The Teacher: Augustine takes up platonic themes of knowledge and its origin or foundation. What is the source of knowledge? Who is the teacher? He ain't called "Bishop" 'cuz he's an atheist!
Against the Academicians: Augustine's dialog explores the doctrines of Academic Skepticism (represented by Cicero, here), finding fault and once again developing the argument that Descartes later makes famous as teh Cogito.
The Teacher: Augustine takes up platonic themes of knowledge and its origin or foundation. What is the source of knowledge? Who is the teacher? He ain't called "Bishop" 'cuz he's an atheist!
September 18, 2018
Not a very easy reading, but very involving. The dialogue between Saint Augustine and his son goes about the significante of the words and teachings and their content, as well the philosophy of learning. Althought a short book, should not be read on a rush but reflecting on the wiseness that it contains.
May 2, 2023
I have read a number of Augustine's works, and this was the most complex to follow.
He spends 50-pages running down the entomology of words to ultimately show words have meaning, and come from God. While there are some good nuggets in this text, I would not consider this a "must read" of Augustine.
Those that are interested in his writings should begin with his Confessions.
He spends 50-pages running down the entomology of words to ultimately show words have meaning, and come from God. While there are some good nuggets in this text, I would not consider this a "must read" of Augustine.
Those that are interested in his writings should begin with his Confessions.
May 30, 2012
Augustine is a deep thinker and this book proves to be a challenging read.
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