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ABSTRACT Augustine Against the Academic Doctrine, Way of Life ABSTRACT Augustine Against the Academic Doctrine, Way of Life, and Use of Philosophical Writing John A. Spano, Ph.D. Directors: Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., and Michael P. Foley, Ph.D. The recent literature on Augustine’s Contra Academicos stresses the philosophical, ethical, and literary elements of the text. However, these works neglect the polemical role of the dialogue as a response to Cicero’s Academic Skepticism. I offer a reading of the first of Augustine’s Cassiciacum dialogues, the Contra Academicos, that shows how his work can be read as a comprehensive rejection of the Academic philosophical life and doctrine as presented in Cicero’s dialogue, the Academica. To accomplish the goal, the work begins with an analysis of the doctrine in, way of life recommended by, and pedagogical function of Cicero’s Academica. The remaining chapters examine Augustine’s response to each of these elements of Cicero’s work. In Chapter Three I accentuate the philosophical importance of Augustine’s accusation that the Academics practiced a form of esotericism. This accusation, largely neglected, helps underscore Augustine’s rhetorical strategies to cultivate in his students an awareness of philosophical ironic discourse. Chapter Four focuses upon Augustine’s critique of the Academic way of life and the problems that arise from their insistence that all must seek wisdom yet be content with the inevitable impossibility of finding wisdom. Chapters Five and Six examine Augustine’s positive contributions to philosophical writing. Augustine rejects the Academic emphasis that wisdom must be sought by reason alone, suggesting that reason and authority are the twin means for that pursuit. The dual emphasis disallows Augustine from pedagogical uses of deception in the dialogue form, a subtle but important shift from other philosophical uses of this form of writing. By allowing reason and authority to guide one in the pursuit of wisdom, Augustine’s work also steers the reader away from the despair that Academic skepticism can so easily cultivate. Augustine Against the Academic Doctrine, Way of Life, and Use of Philosophical Writing by John A. Spano B.A., M.Div., M.A. A Dissertation Approved by the Department of Philosophy Michael D. Beaty, Ph.D., Chairperson Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved by the Dissertation Committee Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., Chairperson Michael P. Foley, Ph.D., Chairperson Robert B. Kruschwitz, Ph.D. Anne-Marie Schultz, Ph.D. R. Alden Smith, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School May 2013 J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2013 by John A. Spano All rights reserved CONTENTS Chapter ONE AUGUSTINE, CICERO, AND ACADEMIC SKEPTICISM 1 Contributions 10 Pierre Hadot: Doctrine, Way of Life, Text 25 Chapter Summaries 31 TWO DOCTRINE, WAY OF LIFE, AND CICERO’S ACADEMICA 33 Academic Philosophy as a Way of Life 33 The Academica 40 Doctrine 41 Way of Life 50 Philosophical Writing: Dialogue and Pedagogy 59 THREE COMEDIC ARGUMENTATION: THE LAUGHTER OF AUGUSTINE 74 Esotericism 78 Framing: Previews and Audience 89 Comedic Argumentation 92 FOUR THE FUTILE PURSUIT: PROBLEMS WITH THE SKEPTICAL LIFE 103 Pyrrhonic and Academic Skepticism 105 Academic Despair 111 The Sage in Discourse and as Icon 115 The Sage and Error 119 The Sage and Probable 123 FIVE DIALOGUE AND IRONY: THE EFFECTS OF AUTHORITY AND REASON ON AUGUSTINE’S WRITING 132 Reason and authority 133 Hiding opinions 143 Augustinian Irony 153 SIX DIVINE PEDAGOGY 169 Pedagogy at Cassiciacum 170 Criterion of truth 173 Avoiding Despair and Arrogance 182 WORKS CITED 189 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work could not have been accomplished without the help of Anne-Marie Schultz, Robert Kruschwitz, Thomas Hibbs, and Michael Foley. The origins of the work reach back to classes taken with them during my first year at Baylor. Each committee member modelled how to read ancient philosophical texts and showed how such texts continue to bear importance not only for the discipline of philosophy but also the pursuit of wisdom. I especially thank Dr. Foley for introducing me to Augustine’s early dialogues and Dr. Hibbs for his continual help and generous offering of time. Both directors showed great patience with me and offered crucial guidance to bring this work in the general theme and details to fruition. Any good that comes from it can be traced to their help. My wife, Lydia Spano, deserves special mention for her encouragement, patience, and love in word and deed throughout this entire process. vi CHAPTER ONE Augustine, Cicero, and Academic Skepticism In the Autumn of A. D. 386 Augustine gathered with a small group of family, friends, and students to a villa near Cassiciacum. Out of this retreat the young catechumen and his friend Alypius, created four dialogues: Contra Academicos, De beata vita, De ordine, and Soliloquia.1 In the dialogues, Augustine introduces the group, and especially his students Licentius and Trygetius, to philosophy: the rational pursuit of wisdom that can assist in one’s journey toward union with the Triune God of Christianity.2 The participants of the dialogues discuss the limitations of knowledge, the source of the happy life, the problem of evil given God’s ordered creation, and the nature of the soul. I will offer a new reading of the first of these dialogues, the Contra Academicos, that shows how Augustine’s work can be read as a comprehensive rejection of the Academic philosophical life as presented in Cicero’s dialogue, the Academica. In his 1 For evidence of Alypius’ hand in these works, see Confessiones 9.4.7. 2 The historicity of the dialogues remains debated. For a survey of the literature, see G. Madec’s “L’historicité de Dialogues de Cassiciacum,” Recherches Augustiniennes 32 (1986): 207-231 and J. Doignon, “État des questions relatives aux premiers Dialogues de saint Augustine,” in Internationales Symposium über den Stand der Augustinus-Forschung: Festschrift für Luc Verheigen, ed. C. P Mayer and K. H. Chelius (Würzburg: Augustinus-Verlag, 1989), 42-89. John. J. O’Meara argues for a literary reading of the dialogue in The Young Augustine: The Growth of St. Augustine’s Mind up to His Conversion (Staten Island: St. Paul Publications, 1965) and in his introduction to his translation of the Contra Academicos. St. Augustine: Against the Academics, ACW 12 (Westminster, MD.: Newman Press, 1950). The main textual challenge to O’Meara’s claim is the multiple references to a stenographer (Contra Academicos 1.5.15, 1.9.25, 2.7.17, 2.9.22, 3.7.15 and De ordine 1.2.5, 1.5.14, 1.7.20, 1.9.27, 1.10.29-11.31, 2.20.54). A historical reading need not be antithetical to a literary reading. Augustine’s comment that he condensed the conversations at the villa (Contra Academicos 2.4.10) suggests that initial editing was done at Cassiciacum. I am supposing that, historical or not, the literary features of the work influence the philosophical arguments. 1 dialogue, Augustine playfully mocks Academic skeptical doctrine, emphasizes difficulties in the Academic way of life, and revises Academic pedagogical practices. I will first examine, in this chapter, the importance of Augustine’s dialogue, moving to a lacuna in recent work on that dialogue, namely, a disregard for the way in which the dialogue acts a response not only to skepticism in general, but to Cicero’s Academica in particular. Taking the polemical nature of this work seriously can significantly contribute to an understanding of the Cassiciacum literature in general and of the Contra Academicos in particular. The chapter ends with the framing device for the dissertation and chapter summaries. Contra Academicos and Survey of Scholarship In the Contra Academicos, Augustine directly confronts Academic skepticism as presented and defended in Cicero’s Academica. Though often neglected in favor of Augustine’s “mature” later writings, this work merits study for at least three reasons. First, the Cassiciacum dialogues are the earliest writings of Augustine, offering the reader a glimpse into the initial philosophical and theological ruminations of the new convert. Some themes, like a strong emphasis upon the liberal arts, are later abandoned or qualified by Augustine; others, like the relation of reason and authority, though inchoate here, are developed but not discarded. 3 A close examination of these initial works can assist a reader in understanding why certain issues are later dropped as well as confirm 3 For continuity in Augustine’s thought, see especially Carol Harrison’s Rethinking Augustine’s Early Theology: An Argument for Continuity (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008). See also Ernest Fortin, “Reflections on the Proper Way to Read Augustine the Theologian,” in The Birth of Philosophic Christianity: Studies in Early Christian and Medieval Thought, ed. J. Brian Benestad (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), 95-114. 2 that Christian doctrine definitively shaped Augustine’s thought from the time of his conversion. Augustine’s continued fascination with the dialogue’s central theme, skepticism, is a second reason for studying the Contra Academicos.4 Though certain aspects of his later arguments differ slightly from his earlier work, Augustine repeatedly supports the outcome of his early confrontation with skepticism. For instance, in the Enchiridion he approves of the arguments found in the Contra Academicos as “necessary at the very outset to remove this utter despair of reaching truth, which seems to be strengthened by the arguments of these philosophers.”5 In his Retractationes, Augustine, commenting upon the Contra Academicos, stresses his need to refuse the skeptical philosophers who “instill a despair of finding the truth.” He concludes that “with the help of and mercy of the Lord, this has been accomplished.”6 Such endorsements by the mature Augustine warrant a study of this early work.
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