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Truth

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St. Augustine and being

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Abstract

All the basic metaphysical notions of Augustine are so closely linked to one another as to be inseparable. The subject of this Chapter is no exception. In fact any writer on that metaphysics should find it embarrassingly difficult to justify the placing he gives it, since nothing is more Augustinian than the conviction that the quest for knowledge is the quest for being and the quest for being is the quest for Truth.1 Immutability, Being, Self-Identity, Creator, Truth — all these terms in Augustine’s thought are convertible.

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References

  1. E.g. Soliloquies, I, 1.3-4 (PL 32, 32, 870-71); Confessions, XII, 25.35 (PL 32, 840); The Trinity, IX, 7.12 (PL 42, 967). For a profound and penetrating study of this whole pivotal doctrine of truth in St. Augustine, see C Boyer, S.J., L’idée de vérité dans la Philosophie de saint Augustin, 2ème éd., Paris: Beauchesne, 1940. Keen insights into the underlying unity of thought upon many aspects of this doctrine shared in common by St. Thomas and the Bishop of Hippo are to be found especially on pages n (with note 4,) 12, 183-85, 202 (note 1), 209 (note 4), 226 (note 1), and 296.

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  2. Cf. Augustine, Commentary on Psalm CXLV, 5 (PL 37, 1887-88).

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  3. Cf. Confessions, X, 22, 32 (PL 32, 795): “ … ipsa est beata vita, gaudere, ad te de te propter te”; cf. On the Christian Way of Life, I, 6.10 (PL 32, 1315); On the Blessed Life, IV, 34 (PL 32, 975-76); On Freedom of Choice, II, 8.26 (PL 32, 1254-55); II, 13-35-36 (PL 32, 1260).

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  9. E.g., see Confessions, IX, 10.25 (PL 32, 789-90); Cayré, La contemplation augustinienne (Paris: Desclée, 1927), esp. pp. 1-12. Augustine never departed from the Gospel doctrine that perfect happiness is not of this life. Cf. On the Blessed Life, IV, 35 (PL 32, 975); Retractions, I, 2 (PL 32, 588).

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  11. Ibid.

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  26. Cf. De Veritate, I, 1, ad 1.

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  29. Cf. Summa Theologiae, I, 16, 6-8.

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  30. See above, Chapter I. Cf. J. Maritain, “St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas,” in A Monument to St. Augustine, London, 1930, p. 211.

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  32. Summa Theologiae, I, 16, 5, ad 2.

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  42. “… Les preuves augustiniennes de 1’existence de Dieu se développent toutes sur le plan de l’essence beaucoup plutôt que sur celui de l’existence proprement dite Elles partent en effet, non pas de la constatation d’existences dont on chercherait la cause efficiente première, mais de l’observation de certaines manières d’être … Fidèle à la tradition de Piaton, saint Augustin pense moins à l’existence qu’à l’être, et comme il est persuadé que changer, c’est ne pas être vraiment, la contingence dont il cherche l’explication est moins celle de l’existence proprement dite que celle d’êtres qui, bien qu’ils ne soient pas rien, n’ont cependant pas en eux la raison suffisante de ce qu’ils sont.” E. Gilson, Introduction à Vetude de saint Augustin, roème éd. (Paris: Vrin, 1943), p. 26; italics added; Eng. trans., The Christian Philosophy of St. Augustine, (New York: Random House, i960, pp. 21-22.)

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  43. See below, Chapter IX.

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  44. E.g. Chapter V.

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  45. E.g. Chapters I and III.

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  47. See above, Chapter III.

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  48. See above, Chapter III, pp. 20-21.

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  52. Cf. Descartes, Meditatio, II, ed. Adam-Tannery, Oeuvres de Descartes, Vol. 7, pp. 25;28-29.

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  54. “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, seek not to understand, that you may believe, but believe, that you may understand: intellectus enim merces est fidei. Ergo noli quaerere intelligere ut credas, sed crede ut intelligas…” On St. John’s Gospel, VII, 29.6 (PL 35, 1630); cf. Sermon CXVIII, I (PL 38, 671-72); Epistle CXX, 2.8 (PL 33, 456); On Christian Doctrine, II, 12.17 (PL 34, 43-44).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Villanova University, USA

    James F. Anderson (Professor of Philosophy)

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© 1965 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

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Anderson, J.F. (1965). Truth. In: St. Augustine and being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9447-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9447-1_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-8655-1

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