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The Structure of the Human Mind According to Augustine

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The Structure of the Human Mind According to Augustine Johannes Brachtendorf The Structure of the Human Mind According to Augustine Self-reflection and Knowledge of God in De Trinitate English Edition of Johannes Brachtendorf, Die Struktur des menschlichen Geistes nach Augustinus. Selbstreflexion und Erkenntnis Gottes in ‚De Trinitate’, Hamburg 2000 (Felix Meiner Verlag) translated by Aaron Looney 1 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 5 1. Intention and Outline of this Work .......................................................................................... 5 2. On the legitimacy of a philosophical interpretation ............................................................... 10 a) De Trinitate as an exercitatio animi? ......................................................................... 10 b) Theological Interpretations ......................................................................................... 12 I. AUGUSTINE’S CONCEPTION OF THE TRINITY AND THE NEOPLATONIC CONTEXT ....... 17 1. Neoplatonic Precursors for Augustine’s Doctrine of the Triune God ................................... 17 a) Augustine’s Re-working of Plotinus’ Metaphysics of Mind ........................................ 17 b) The Line of Development: Plotinus – Porphyry – Marius Victorinus – Augustine .... 22 2. Self-reflection and the Ascent to God................................................................................... 26 a) Plotinus’ Doctrine of Self-knowledge ......................................................................... 26 b) Augustine’s Theory of Self-Relation from his Early Works to Confessiones ............. 35 c) Self-Reflection and Transcendence in Confessiones ................................................ 41 d) Intellectualis and intelligibilis in De Genesi ad litteram 12 ......................................... 49 II. THE ONTOLOGY OF THE TRINITY (TRIN. 5-7) ...................................................................... 57 1. God as substantia and essentia ........................................................................................... 58 2. Identity of Substance and Equality of Persons ..................................................................... 62 3. Relationality .......................................................................................................................... 64 4. The Relation of Substantiality and Relationality ................................................................... 67 5. The Logic of Language and the Problem with the Concept of Person ................................. 74 III. THE FAILURE OF VISION AND THE ANALYSIS OF MIND (TRIN. 8) ................................... 80 1. Veritas and bonum ipsum as Intelligible Realities ................................................................ 82 2. The Relation of these Reflections to Confessiones ............................................................. 86 3. The Knowledge in Faith ........................................................................................................ 89 4. The Discussion of Love ........................................................................................................ 99 5. A Natural Understanding of Trinity? ................................................................................... 108 IV. THE TRINITARIAN STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN MIND (TRIN. 9, PART I) ..................... 118 1. The Soul as Analogat of God? Analogy and Ascension ................................................... 121 2. An Outline of the Trinitarian Ontology of the Human Mind................................................. 126 3. Demarcation of the Structure of the Mind from Ontologically Similar Phenomena ............ 133 a) Augustine and Aristotle on Relations ....................................................................... 133 b) Augustine and Aristotle on Wholes and Parts ......................................................... 136 c) Augustine’s Examination of the Theory of Mixture................................................... 139 4. Positive Proof of the Trinitarian Structure of the Human Mind – Self-Relationality as the Fundamental Characteristic .............................................................................................. 141 2 V. GENETIC RELATIONS IN THE MIND – NOTITIA AND VERBUM (TRIN. 9, PART II) ......... 148 1. The Derivation of the notitia – notitia as Word ................................................................... 148 2. Moral-Philosophical and Epistemological Aspects of the Inner Word ................................ 152 3. The Function of amor in the Production of the Word ......................................................... 158 VI. THE ORIGINAL SELF-RELATION OF THE HUMAN MIND AND ITS TRINITARIAN STRUCTURE ............................................................................................................................... 162 1. The Discovery of Original Self-Knowledge ......................................................................... 164 2. Implicit and Explicit Self-Knowledge ................................................................................... 166 3. Self-Presence and the Criterion of Certainty ...................................................................... 173 4. The Contents of the Mind under the Criterion of Certainty................................................. 179 5. Se nosse and Consciousness ............................................................................................ 183 6. Characteristics of the Triad of Immediate Self-Knowledge ................................................ 185 a) Trinitarian Structures ................................................................................................ 185 b) Perfection as the Defining Feature .......................................................................... 187 VII. SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM (TRIN. 11-13)............................................................. 193 1. The Ascent to the Image of God as a Pedagogical Project (Trin. 11) ................................ 193 2. Knowledge and Wisdom (Trin. 12) ..................................................................................... 198 a) Knowledge and Wisdom as Topics of Ethics ........................................................... 198 b) Contemplation of the Eternal and Self-Knowledge .................................................. 201 3. Faith as Act and as Way to Wisdom (Trin. 13) ................................................................... 205 VIII. BEING AN IMAGE AND BECOMING AN IMAGE (TRIN. 14) ............................................. 211 Part One: The Image-Character as the Defining Feature of the Human Mind .................... 211 1. The Precedence of Being an Image over the Participation in God .................................... 211 2. Implicit and Explicit Self-Reflection .................................................................................... 215 3. Temporality as the Difference between the Two Forms of Self-Reflection ........................ 218 Part Two: The Renewal of the Image .................................................................................... 227 1. The cogitatio-Trinity as Addressee of the Call for Renewal ............................................... 227 2. Remembering God ............................................................................................................. 229 3. The Original Self-Relation in Practical Life – Self-Love and the Love of God.................... 231 4. The Image of God on the Plane of Conscious Reflection .................................................. 236 IX. HUMAN SUBJECTIVITY AND THE DIVINE TRINITY – CORRESPONDENCES AND DIFFERENCES (TRIN. 15) ......................................................................................................... 249 1. The Comprehension of the Incomprehensible ................................................................... 249 2. A Comparison between Conscious Reflection and Immediate Self-Relation ..................... 255 3 X. LANGUAGE AS A MIRROR OF THE TRINITY (TRIN. 15) .................................................... 264 1. The cogitatio as verbum ..................................................................................................... 264 2. Truth and Falsehood of the Inner Word ............................................................................. 265 a) The Principle of Congruence (Yes-Yes; No-No) ...................................................... 265 b) The Problem of the Lie ............................................................................................. 267 c) Deception and Error – Augustine’s Late Critique of the Academics ........................ 269 d) The Necessary Correspondence of Cogitatio and Notitia ....................................... 275 3. The Word of God as Inner Speech ..................................................................................... 277 XI. THE INNER WORD – A SEMANTIC CONCEPT? ................................................................. 280 1. Cratylus – Naturalistic and Conventionalistic Conceptions of Language ........................... 280 2. Augustine’s De dialectica ................................................................................................... 284 3. The Theory of Signs in De magistro ................................................................................... 286
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