Augustine's Inner Dialogue: The Philosophical Soliloquy in Late Antiquity

by Brian Stock

Augustine's philosophy of life involves mediation, reviewing one's past & exercises for self-improvement. Centuries after Plato & before Freud he invented a spiritual exercise in which everyone is able, thru memory, to reconstruct & reinterpret life's aims. Stock examines Augustine's unique way of blending literary & philosophical themes. He proposes an interpretation of Augustine's early writings, establishing how the philosophical soliloquy (soliloquium) has emerged as a mode of inquiry & how it relates to problems of self-existence & self-history. The book also provides clear analysis of inner dialog & discourse & how, as inner dialog complements & finally replaces outer dialog, a style of thinking emerges, arising from ancient sources & a religious attitude indebted to Judeo-Xian tradition.
Preface & Acknowledgments
Augustine of Hippo: Dates in His Early Career
List of Abbreviations
Toward inner dialogue
Soliloquy & self-existence
Order & freedom
Narrative
Conclusion
Index

254 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2010