THE DISCOVERY OF MENS AND THE UNITY OF SELF-COGNITION IN ST. AUGUSTINE'S DE TRINITATE X by Benjamin Patrick Lee Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August 2008 © Copyright by Benjamin Patrick Lee, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44007-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44007-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY To comply with the Canadian Privacy Act the National Library of Canada has requested that the following pages be removed from this copy of the thesis: Preliminary Pages Examiners Signature Page (pii) Dalhousie Library Copyright Agreement (piii) Appendices Copyright Releases (if applicable) For Andrea, carissimae coniugi lv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 I. THE PROBLEM OF SELF-COGNITION IN DE TRINITATE X, ITS SOURCES AND INFLUENCE 1 1.1. Mens and Human Self-Cognition in the Augustinian Tradition 2 1.2. The Passage from Corporealism to Scepticism to Platonism 7 A. Biographical Account and the "Beginning" of Philosophy 7 B. Review of the Literature in Connection to Scepticism .10 1.3. Plan of Interpretation 20 CHAPTER TWO: THE MIND'S DISCOVERY OF ITSELF 23 2.1. Exercises of the Mind: Towards an Initial Imago Trinitatis CVIII-IX) 23 2.2. Approaching a Sceptical Problematic (X,l,1-2,4) 32 2.3. Negative Demonstration of Immediate and Total Self-Knowledge (X,3,5-4,6) . 43 A. The Impossibility of Denying Self-Knowledge (X,4,6) 45 B. The Impossibility of Partial Self-Knowledge (X,4,6) 51 2.4. Positive Demonstration the Mind's Self-Certitudes (X,5,7-10,16) 54 A. Two Kinds of Cognition/Tove and the Possibility of Error (X,5,7) 55 B. The Incorporeality of the Mind Against Philosophical Opinions (X,7,9-10) 64 C. The Proper Method to Achieve Indubitable Self-Knowledge (X,8,11-10,13) 69 D. Proofs of the Mind's Certitude Concerning Itself(X,10,13-16) 70 2.5. Formulation of the Imago Trinitatis (X,l 1,17-12,19) . 72 CHAPTER THREE: CONCLUSION 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY 80 A. Primary Sources 80 B. Secondary Sources 81 v ABSTRACT Guided by the purpose of demonstrating the divine Trinity within the human mind, De trinitate X is an exercise of philosophical obedience to the Delphic precept, "Know Thyself!" In light of current scholarship, this thesis situates book X in a polemical context against the sceptical denial of self-knowledge and corporealist epistemology. My exposition follows Augustine's rigourous argument whereby the mind discovers itself. On the basis of its immediate self-presence, the mind knows itself (se nosse) in a total, inamissable, and absolutely certain unity of its intellect, life and being. But the mind's fallen condition is such that its ability to think itself (se cogitare) is partial, erroneous, and thus inconstant in discerning its true nature. This discrepancy remains an unresolved problem in book X. For Augustine, the unity of self-cognition is ultimately a question of the mediation of the human mind and God, in whose image it was made, vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many to whom I am profoundly indebted. I am thankful to my parents and family for their unconditional love—especially to my first critic, my mother, for enkindling in me a spirit of inquiry. I am grateful for the wonderful conversations I have shared in Halifax over the past several years amongst peers, Daniel Wilband, Michelle Wilband, Reuben Penner, Adam Labecki, James Bryson, and for all the fine graduate students in the Classics Department who have stimulated and refreshed me. This thesis could not have been written without the friendship and spiritual direction of Fr. Gary Thorne, whose ministry granted me the self-recollection necessary for philosophical study. I am also thankful to Fr. David Phillips and Fr. George Westaver, and to the people of King's Chapel and St. George's parish for their support. I would like to thank Dennis House for his efforts to make the language of Greek philosophy seem less strange to me, and for the generous hospitality he and Doris provided on so many occasions. I thank Peter O'Brien for his constant encouragement, and for insisting that I endure greater toils in my Latin training. I am very fortunate to have been influenced by Fr. Robert Crouse, as much by his great quietude as through his writings which everywhere reflect such learned devotion to the thought of St. Augustine. Fr. Robert Dodaro gave generously of his time and knowledgeable advice during the early stages of my research at the Augustinianum, in Rome. I express my gratitude to all who contributed to the discussion of my paper at the Atlantic Classical Association meeting in October, 2007, which allowed important issues of my second chapter to come into focus. Many helpful suggestions were made by Michael Fournier, Eli Diamond, Daniel Wilband, and Neil Robertson, who read drafts of my thesis or portions thereof. I also acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. An immensely important debt is to my supervisor, Wayne Hankey, in whose Neoplatonism seminar this thesis first took shape; his tireless dedication as a scholar has been a continual inspiration, and his great care as a teacher instilled in me both confidence and humility at crucial points. Most of all, I gratefully acknowledge my wife, Andrea. I have been sustained by her enduring vitality, and guided by her wisdom and graceful countenance every step of the way. Halifax, NS The Feast of St. slugustine, 2008 vn CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION I. THE PROBLEM OF SELF-COGNITION IN DE TRINITATE X, ITS SOURCES AND INFLUENCE In the order of searching after wisdom, according to Saint Augustine, the human soul's introspective self-cognition is the condition of its ascent to the contemplative vision of God. Paradoxically, divine illumination is the precondition of the mind's conversion to its innermost self. Augustine expresses the human mind's indissoluble link to God in a well- known phrase from his Confessions: "You however were more interior than my most intimate part and higher than my highest." This phrase captures both the immediacy of the union between human and divine, as well as the dynamic character of the relation. It also contains the idea that self-cognition and cognition of God must occur together in the human mind. Many other celebrated formulations of this spiritual itinerary can be found throughout Augustine's prolific career, but perhaps his most thoroughly developed undertaking of this kind comprises the long meditation in the second half of De trinitate: On the basis of the predication of scripture that man was made "according to the image of God," these books seek to demonstrate the nature of the supreme Trinity through a sustained inquiry into the 1 conf. 111,6,11: tu autem eras interior intimo meo et superior summo meo. I use the text of Skutella reproduced in A. Solignac, ed., Les Confessions, 2 vols., 2nd ed., Bibliotheque Augustinienne, Oeuvres de Saint Augustin 13 & 14 (Paris: Insitut d'Etudes Augustiniennes, 1998). My references to the notes and introductions in the Bibliotheque Augustinienne (BA) editions are indicated by the series number. All abbreviations for Augustine's works follow the conventions of Cornelius Mayer, ed., Augustinus-Lexikon, vol. 1 (Stuttgart/Basle: Schwabe & Co. AG, 1986-1994). 2 Here are a few such sentences, which describe the human soul's relation to God as at once through an interior transcendence and transcendent interiority: sol. 11,1,1: Deus semper idem, noverim me, noverim te. Oratum est, ord. 11,18,47: \philosophiae] duplex quaestio est: una de anima, altera de Deo. Prima efficit ut nosmetipsos noverimus, altera, ut originem nostram; mag. 12,39: Cum uero de his agitur, quae mente conspicimus, id est intelkctu atque ratione, ea quidem loquimur, quae praesentia contuemur in ilia interiore luce Veritatis, qua ipse qui dicitur homo interior inlustratur et fruitur, vera rel.