Hello avid readers,
I would just like to give you a heads up on posts to come. I hope to soon make a few posts on an early work of St. Augustine written prior to his baptism and after his retreat from teaching rhetoric [those works that come from his retirement to Cassisiacum] titled Against the Academicians. Within this work we will likely tackle some thoughts of St. Augustine on the virtue of studying philosophy, some early remarks on leading the happy life, and the errors of the New Academy. The Academics then were a new philosophical school that emphasizes a form of skepticism thought to come from Plato that relates to his earlier works that seem to end with little philosophical conclusion. Similarly we will find some of St. Augustine's early thoughts on knowledge, neo-Platonism, Christianity, and his doctrine of divine illumination. Of course there is more in store as well.
For those unfamiliar with the New Academy and some of the Platonic doctrines that deal with learning and knowledge I will post some links below:
Podcast from "The History of Philosophy without any gaps" about the successors of Aristotle and Plato
Podcast from "The History of Philosophy without any gaps" on Plato's Meno
Those interested in reading about Plato's early ideas on knowledge and learning, and whether one can actually learn anything new can look at Plato's dialogue the Meno below:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kennydominican.joyeurs.com/GreekClassics/PlatoMenoE.htm
It will be helpful to take a look at this work as this underlies some parallels with St. Augustine's discussion of Platonism and his own ideas on language and learning.