Augustine of Hippo - Revision history

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	{{Quote\|For if I am mistaken, then I am.<ref>The famous passage that echoes Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum". Cf. J. Storz, ''Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus'' [1882], p. 34-38, where parallel passages are also given; and H. Scholz, ''Glaube und Unglaube in der Weltgeschichte'' [1911], p. 36f.</ref> For he who is not, cannot of course be mistaken; and consequently I am when I am mistaken. Since, then, I am when I am mistaken, how can I be mistaken about my being, since it is certain precisely when I am mistaken? So even if I were mistaken, I would still have to be in order to be able to err, and therefore I am undoubtedly not mistaken in the consciousness that I am. Consequently, I am also not mistaken in the fact that I know about this consciousness of mine. For as well as I know that I am, I also know that I know.<ref>{{Latin}}: „si enim fallor, sum. nam qui non est, utique nec falli potest: ac per hoc sum, si fallor. quia sum ergo, si fallor, quomodo esse me fallor, quando certum est me esse, si fallor? quia igitur essem qui fallerer, etiamsi fallerer, procul dubio in eo, quod me noui esse, non fallor. consequens est autem, ut etiam in eo, quod me noui nosse, non fallar. sicut enim noui esse me, ita noui etiam hoc ipsum, nosse me.“</ref>\|Augustine\|''Twenty-two Books on the Divine State'' (De civitate Dei), XI, 26}}		{{Quote\|For if I am mistaken, then I am.<ref>The famous passage that echoes Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum". Cf. J. Storz, ''Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus'' [1882], p. 34-38, where parallel passages are also given; and H. Scholz, ''Glaube und Unglaube in der Weltgeschichte'' [1911], p. 36f.</ref> For he who is not, cannot of course be mistaken; and consequently I am when I am mistaken. Since, then, I am when I am mistaken, how can I be mistaken about my being, since it is certain precisely when I am mistaken? So even if I were mistaken, I would still have to be in order to be able to err, and therefore I am undoubtedly not mistaken in the consciousness that I am. Consequently, I am also not mistaken in the fact that I know about this consciousness of mine. For as well as I know that I am, I also know that I know.<ref>{{Latin}}: „si enim fallor, sum. nam qui non est, utique nec falli potest: ac per hoc sum, si fallor. quia sum ergo, si fallor, quomodo esse me fallor, quando certum est me esse, si fallor? quia igitur essem qui fallerer, etiamsi fallerer, procul dubio in eo, quod me noui esse, non fallor. consequens est autem, ut etiam in eo, quod me noui nosse, non fallar. sicut enim noui esse me, ita noui etiam hoc ipsum, nosse me.“</ref>\|Augustine\|''Twenty-two Books on the Divine State'' (De civitate Dei), XI, 26}}

			Augustine argued similarly in [[w:De Trinitate\|De Trinitate]] X, 10.

			{{Quote\|Who, however, would doubt that he lives, remembers, sees, wills, thinks, knows and judges? For even when one doubts, one lives; when one doubts, one remembers what one doubts; when one doubts, one sees that one doubts; when one doubts, one wants certainty; when one doubts, one thinks; when one doubts, one knows that one does not know; when one doubts, one judges that one should not give one's consent hastily. So when one doubts everything else, he must not doubt all that. If these processes did not exist, he could not doubt about anything at all.\|Augustine\|''Fifteen Books on the Trinity'' (De Trinitate) X, 10}}

			{{GZ\|In Augustine, the new is like a reminder of the Greek life of thought. He looks around him and within himself and says to himself: "Even if everything else that the world reveals is only uncertain and deceptive, there is one thing that cannot be doubted: the certainty of the experience of the soul itself. This is not granted to me by any perception that can deceive me; in this I am in it myself; it is, for I am in it, in that its being is ascribed to it.

			One can see something new in these conceptions in comparison with the Greek thought-life, although at first they resemble a recollection of the same. Greek thought points to the soul; in Augustine it points to the centre of the soul's life. The Greek thinkers consider the soul in its relation to the world; in Augustine, something in the soul-life confronts it and considers this soul-life as a special, self-contained world. One can call the centre of the soul life the "I" of the human being. To the Greek thinkers, the relationship of the soul to the world became a riddle; to the more recent thinkers, the relationship of the "I" to the soul. In Augustine's work, this was only just beginning; the subsequent attempts at a world view still had too much to do to bring world view and religion into harmony for them to become clearly aware of the newness that had now entered spiritual life. And yet subsequently, more or less unconsciously to the souls, lives the endeavour to look at the world riddles in the way demanded by the new element.\|18\|91}}

			Precisely in the fact ''that we exist'', that we know about our being and love this being and knowledge, Augustine saw man as - though not as equal and equally eternal - the image of God in his threefold form. Accordingly, in [[w:De civitate Dei\|De civitate Dei]], XI, 26, it also says in the introduction:

			{{Quote\|And in ourselves, too, we recognise an image of God, i.e. of that supreme Trinity, admittedly not an equal one, but rather one that lags far behind, not even an eternal one and - with which everything is said in brief - not an image that would be of the same essence as God, but nevertheless one of such a kind that among the things created by God, nothing is closer to him by nature, as it should then still be perfected by improvement, so that it comes very close to him in likeness. Namely, we exist, we know our being, and we love this being and knowledge. And in these three pieces no possibility of deception by the mere appearance of truth troubles us. For we do not apprehend them as we do things apart from us with any bodily sense, as we sensually perceive colours by looking, sounds by hearing, scents by smelling, objects of the sense of taste by tasting, hard and soft things by feeling, of which sense-objects we also carry about in thought images<ref>Impressions</ref> quite similar to them but no longer corporeal, hold them in memory, and are stimulated by them to desire them; but without any deceptive pretence of the imagination and its constructions being able to assert itself, it is absolutely certain to me that I am, that I know it, and that I love it. In these pieces I am not at all afraid of the objections of the academics<ref>i.e. the followers of the so-called middle academy [3rd and 2nd century B.C.], which paid homage to scepticism, starting from the fact that there are sensory illusions; self-consciousness is not based on external perception like the knowledge conveyed by the senses, but on direct grasp of one's own being, cognition and striving.</ref> who object: But how if you are mistaken? For if I am mistaken, then I am.\|Augustine\|''De civitate Dei'', XI, 26}}

			== Divine illumination ==
			{{Main\|Devine illumination}}

			The doctrine of Devine illumination advocated by Augustine, which was later systematically elaborated in scholasticism by Bonaventure, has its origin in [[Plato]]'s [[theory of ideas]], as he illustrated it in his [[w:Republic (Plato)\|Politeia]] in the famous allegory of the cave and, in preparation, already in the allegory of the sun. According to this, the knowledge of truth is only possible through the highest spiritual light of the good, which illuminates the soul, just as sensual things only become visible through the light of the sun. For Plotinus and the Neoplatonism that followed him, the source of this spiritual light was "The One", which Augustine equated with God in the Christian sense. God himself is the eternal truth, in whose spirit live the eternal ideas from which he created the visible and invisible world. The divine world spirit (mundus intelligibilis) radiates these ideas and thereby directly enlightens the human soul, which, unlike its material body, is created in the image of God (imago dei).

			Not only the knowledge of God, but also general concepts are imparted to man by a higher authority ("intus ipsi menti praesidentem") that transcends the soul and the intellect. Christ himself, who dwells in man, is the inner teacher ("magister interior") who answers the inquiring man.

			{{Quote\|But he who is questioned is he who teaches; of him it is said that he dwells within man: Christ, that is the unchangeable power of God and the eternal wisdom which questions every reasoning soul.\|Augustine\|''De Magistro'' 11,38}}

			[[Thomas Aquinas]], who followed [[Aristotle]] more closely, did not completely reject the doctrine of Devine illumination, but was very reserved about it. This type of knowledge, which was fully valid for the [[angelic hierarchies]], was only possible to a small extent for man, since he, as the lowest of all spiritual beings, was already so far removed from the source of divine light that he could only recognise the truth in its most general features. God, however, had given man a body in order to extract the ideas from the sensually perceptible things with the help of reason and thus to recognise them in their divine origin.

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==

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	According to a statement by ''Madlen Hauser'', [[Friedrich Rittelmeyer]] had an inner experience during a lecture by [[Rudolf Steiner]] in Berlin on 3 April 1917 {{GZ\|\|175\|182ff}}, which revealed to him a karmic connection between [[Judas Iscariot]] and Augustine and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. Rudolf Steiner had confirmed the accuracy of this experience to him.<ref>cf. [http://www.perseus.ch/PDF-Europaer/JG_17/JG17_2013_04_Europaer.pdf#page=9&view=Fit Der Europäer, February 2013 (Vol. 17 / No. 4), p. 9] and [http://www.perseus.ch/PDF-Europaer/JG_06/Europaer_06_2002.pdf#page=8&view=Fit Der Europäer, April 2002 (Vol. 6 / No. 6), p. 8] (Note 4).</ref>		According to a statement by ''Madlen Hauser'', [[Friedrich Rittelmeyer]] had an inner experience during a lecture by [[Rudolf Steiner]] in Berlin on 3 April 1917 {{GZ\|\|175\|182ff}}, which revealed to him a karmic connection between [[Judas Iscariot]] and Augustine and [[Leonardo da Vinci]]. Rudolf Steiner had confirmed the accuracy of this experience to him.<ref>cf. [http://www.perseus.ch/PDF-Europaer/JG_17/JG17_2013_04_Europaer.pdf#page=9&view=Fit Der Europäer, February 2013 (Vol. 17 / No. 4), p. 9] and [http://www.perseus.ch/PDF-Europaer/JG_06/Europaer_06_2002.pdf#page=8&view=Fit Der Europäer, April 2002 (Vol. 6 / No. 6), p. 8] (Note 4).</ref>

			== si enim fallor, sum ==

			Augustine was already preparing the [[consciousness-soul age]].

			{{GZ\|Augustine lives long before the dawn of our age; but he prepares it; he is the spirit in whose writings we find, long before the sun rises, the first dawn of the age entirely tailored to the consciousness-soul. In every line of Augustine this is perceptible, and every line of Augustine differs for a finer feeling from all that was possible in ancient Greekism.\|145\|130}}

			With his saying "si enim fallor, sum" ({{Latin}}: "For if I am mistaken, then I am", [[w:De civitate Dei\|De civitate Dei]], XI, 26) Augustine argues that if someone doubts, he is - thus already anticipating [[Descartes]]' famous "[[cogito, ergo sum]]".

			{{Quote\|For if I am mistaken, then I am.<ref>The famous passage that echoes Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum". Cf. J. Storz, ''Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus'' [1882], p. 34-38, where parallel passages are also given; and H. Scholz, ''Glaube und Unglaube in der Weltgeschichte'' [1911], p. 36f.</ref> For he who is not, cannot of course be mistaken; and consequently I am when I am mistaken. Since, then, I am when I am mistaken, how can I be mistaken about my being, since it is certain precisely when I am mistaken? So even if I were mistaken, I would still have to be in order to be able to err, and therefore I am undoubtedly not mistaken in the consciousness that I am. Consequently, I am also not mistaken in the fact that I know about this consciousness of mine. For as well as I know that I am, I also know that I know.<ref>{{Latin}}: „si enim fallor, sum. nam qui non est, utique nec falli potest: ac per hoc sum, si fallor. quia sum ergo, si fallor, quomodo esse me fallor, quando certum est me esse, si fallor? quia igitur essem qui fallerer, etiamsi fallerer, procul dubio in eo, quod me noui esse, non fallor. consequens est autem, ut etiam in eo, quod me noui nosse, non fallar. sicut enim noui esse me, ita noui etiam hoc ipsum, nosse me.“</ref>\|Augustine\|''Twenty-two Books on the Divine State'' (De civitate Dei), XI, 26}}

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==

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 In 395 Augustine was appointed Bishop of [[w:Hippo Regius|Hippo Regius]] and held this office until his death.
 == Literature ==
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 * [http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/textstrans.html Augustine: Texts and translations]
 [[Category:Augustine of Hippo]]

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	[[File:Saint Augustine Portrait.jpg\|thumb\|[[Wikipedia:Sandro Botticelli\|Sandro Botticelli]], Augustine at a writing desk, c. 1480, Florence]]		[[File:Saint Augustine Portrait.jpg\|thumb\|[[Wikipedia:Sandro Botticelli\|Sandro Botticelli]], Augustine at a writing desk, c. 1480, Florence]]

	'''Augustine of Hippo''', also called ''Augustine of Thagaste'', ''Saint Augustine'' or incorrectly ''Aurelius Augustinus'' (* 13 November 354 in [[w:Thagaste]], [[w:Numidia\|Numidia]], today [[w:Souk Ahras\|Souk Ahras]] in [[w:Algeria\|Algeria]]; † 28 August 430 in Hippo Regius in Numidia, today [[w:Annaba\|Annaba]] in Algeria) was a Christian philosopher and one of the four Latin [[w:Doctors of the Church\|Doctors of the Church]] of Late Antiquity.		'''Augustine of Hippo''', also called ''Augustine of Thagaste'', ''Saint Augustine'' or incorrectly ''Aurelius Augustinus'' (* 13 November 354 in [[w:Thagaste\|Thagaste]], [[w:Numidia\|Numidia]], today [[w:Souk Ahras\|Souk Ahras]] in [[w:Algeria\|Algeria]]; † 28 August 430 in Hippo Regius in Numidia, today [[w:Annaba\|Annaba]] in Algeria) was a Christian philosopher and one of the four Latin [[w:Doctors of the Church\|Doctors of the Church]] of Late Antiquity.

	== Life ==		== Life ==

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	Thus said I, and wept bitterly in the contrition of my heart. And behold, I heard a voice from a neighbouring house say in a singing tone, it was a boy or a girl: 'Take and read! Take and read! I blurred my vision and wondered if perhaps children were used to singing such words in some game, but I could not remember ever having heard them. Then I pushed back my tears, stood up and interpreted the words I had heard in no other way than that a divine command was telling me to open the Holy Scriptures and to read the first chapter on which my eye would fall. For I had heard from Antonius that when the Gospel was read in the church, to which he had happened to come, he referred to the word which was read as an exhortation: Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. By such a voice of God he was immediately converted. And so I hurriedly returned to the place where Alypius was sitting and where I had left the writings of the apostle Paul when I left. I took hold of the book, opened it and read silently to myself the passage that first caught my eye: "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambers and fornication, not in strife and envy, but draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ and wait on the body, but in such a way that it does not become lustful. I read no further, it was truly not necessary, for immediately at the end of these words the light of peace came upon my heart and the night of doubt fled away.\|Augustine\| ''Confessiones'' 8:12}}		Thus said I, and wept bitterly in the contrition of my heart. And behold, I heard a voice from a neighbouring house say in a singing tone, it was a boy or a girl: 'Take and read! Take and read! I blurred my vision and wondered if perhaps children were used to singing such words in some game, but I could not remember ever having heard them. Then I pushed back my tears, stood up and interpreted the words I had heard in no other way than that a divine command was telling me to open the Holy Scriptures and to read the first chapter on which my eye would fall. For I had heard from Antonius that when the Gospel was read in the church, to which he had happened to come, he referred to the word which was read as an exhortation: Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. By such a voice of God he was immediately converted. And so I hurriedly returned to the place where Alypius was sitting and where I had left the writings of the apostle Paul when I left. I took hold of the book, opened it and read silently to myself the passage that first caught my eye: "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambers and fornication, not in strife and envy, but draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ and wait on the body, but in such a way that it does not become lustful. I read no further, it was truly not necessary, for immediately at the end of these words the light of peace came upon my heart and the night of doubt fled away.\|Augustine\| ''Confessiones'' 8:12}}

			In 395 Augustine was appointed Bishop of [[w:Hippo Regius\|Hippo Regius]] and held this office until his death.

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==

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[[File:AugustineLateran.jpg|thumb|The oldest known depiction of Augustine ([[Wikipedia:Lateran|Lateran]]basilica, 6th  century)]]
[[File:Saint Augustine Portrait.jpg|thumb|[[Wikipedia:Sandro Botticelli|Sandro Botticelli]], Augustine at a writing desk, c. 1480, Florence]]

'''Augustine of Hippo''', also called ''Augustine of Thagaste'', ''Saint Augustine'' or incorrectly ''Aurelius Augustinus'' (* 13 November 354 in [[w:Thagaste]], [[w:Numidia|Numidia]], today [[w:Souk Ahras|Souk Ahras]] in [[w:Algeria|Algeria]]; † 28 August 430 in Hippo Regius in Numidia, today [[w:Annaba|Annaba]] in Algeria) was a Christian philosopher and one of the four Latin [[w:Doctors of the Church|Doctors of the Church]] of Late Antiquity.

== Life ==

Augustine's mother Monica was a Christian, his father Patricius, a small landowner, was baptised only shortly before his death in 372. Augustine was brought up as a Christian by his mother, but she did not have him baptised, as infant baptism was not yet common at that time. Augustine went to school in [[w:Thagaste|Thagaste]] until 370 and studied rhetoric in [[w:Carthage|Carthage]] from 371. In 372, his partner, with whom he lived in celibacy, gave birth to their son ''Adeodatus'' ("the one given by God").

In 373, Augustine first turned to [[Manichaeism]] and worked as a rhetor in Thagaste from 375, later in Carthage, [[w:Rome|Rome]] and [[w:Milan|Milan]] and, as he confessed in his [[w:Confessions (Augustine)|Confessiones]], lived a dissolute lifestyle. In 380, Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity as the state religion. In 383, Augustine's encounter with the Manichean bishop [[w:Faustus of Mileve|Faustus of Mileve]] was disappointing. In 384 Augustine was called to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric. There he became acquainted with [[Plato]]nic biblical interpretation through Bishop [[w:Ambrose of Milan|Ambrose of Milan]]. At the insistence of his mother, who had arranged an engagement with a Christian girl from a wealthy family, Augustine left his long-time companion in 385, who returned to Africa, while their son Adeodatus remained with Augustine. After his conversion experience under a fig tree, Augustine was baptised in 387.

{{Quote|But when a deep contemplation, for a secret reason, drew forth all my misery and gathered it before the face of my heart, a mighty tempest broke loose in me, accompanied by tears in torrents. To give it free rein, I rose and went away from Alypius; for solitude seemed to me more suitable to enable me to weep; I went away, so far that his presence was no longer able to disturb me. That was how I was then, and he felt with me. I also think that I had already said something, whereby the tearful tone of my voice faltered, and so I rose. He remained behind where we had sat down, filled with amazement. But I prostrated myself on the trunk of a fig tree and gave free rein to my tears, and the fountain of the eye gushed forth, an offering which thou didst gladly receive, and I spoke many things to thee, though not in the same words, yet in thy mind: Thou, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry? Be not mindful of our former iniquity. For I felt myself bound by it, and groaned aloud in miserable lamentation. How long? How long? Tomorrow and again tomorrow? Why not now, why does not this hour of my shame set its end?

Thus said I, and wept bitterly in the contrition of my heart. And behold, I heard a voice from a neighbouring house say in a singing tone, it was a boy or a girl: 'Take and read! Take and read! I blurred my vision and wondered if perhaps children were used to singing such words in some game, but I could not remember ever having heard them. Then I pushed back my tears, stood up and interpreted the words I had heard in no other way than that a divine command was telling me to open the Holy Scriptures and to read the first chapter on which my eye would fall. For I had heard from Antonius that when the Gospel was read in the church, to which he had happened to come, he referred to the word which was read as an exhortation: Go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. By such a voice of God he was immediately converted. And so I hurriedly returned to the place where Alypius was sitting and where I had left the writings of the apostle Paul when I left. I took hold of the book, opened it and read silently to myself the passage that first caught my eye: "Not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in chambers and fornication, not in strife and envy, but draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ and wait on the body, but in such a way that it does not become lustful. I read no further, it was truly not necessary, for immediately at the end of these words the light of peace came upon my heart and the night of doubt fled away.|Augustine| ''Confessiones'' 8:12}}

== Literature ==
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Aus der Bilderschrift der Apokalypse des Johannes'', [[GA 104a]] (1991), ISBN 3-7274-1045-0 {{Lectures|104a}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Das Prinzip der spirituellen Ökonomie im Zusammenhang mit Wiederverkörperungsfragen'', [[GA 109]] (2000), ISBN 3-7274-1090-6 {{Lectures|109}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Von Jesus zu Christus'', [[GA 131]] (1988), ISBN 3-7274-1310-7 {{Lectures|131}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Welche Bedeutung hat die okkulte Entwicklung des Menschen für seine Hüllen (physischer Leib, Ätherleib, Astralleib) und sein Selbst?'', [[GA 145]] (2005), ISBN 3-7274-1450-2 {{Lectures|145}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Vorträge und Kurse über christlich-religiöses Wirken, II'', [[GA 343]] (1993), ISBN 3-7274-3430-9 {{Lectures|343a}}

{{GA}}

== Weblinks ==

* [http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/augustine/textstrans.html Augustine: Texts and translations]

[[Category:Augustine of Hippo]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Theologian]]
[[Category:Philosopher (5th century)]]
[[Category:354 births]]
[[Category:430 deaths]]
[[de:Augustinus von Hippo]]

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	{{Quote\|For if I am mistaken, then I am.<ref>The famous passage that echoes Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum". Cf. J. Storz, ''Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus'' [1882], p. 34-38, where parallel passages are also given; and H. Scholz, ''Glaube und Unglaube in der Weltgeschichte'' [1911], p. 36f.</ref> For he who is not, cannot of course be mistaken; and consequently I am when I am mistaken. Since, then, I am when I am mistaken, how can I be mistaken about my being, since it is certain precisely when I am mistaken? So even if I were mistaken, I would still have to be in order to be able to err, and therefore I am undoubtedly not mistaken in the consciousness that I am. Consequently, I am also not mistaken in the fact that I know about this consciousness of mine. For as well as I know that I am, I also know that I know.<ref>{{Latin}}: „si enim fallor, sum. nam qui non est, utique nec falli potest: ac per hoc sum, si fallor. quia sum ergo, si fallor, quomodo esse me fallor, quando certum est me esse, si fallor? quia igitur essem qui fallerer, etiamsi fallerer, procul dubio in eo, quod me noui esse, non fallor. consequens est autem, ut etiam in eo, quod me noui nosse, non fallar. sicut enim noui esse me, ita noui etiam hoc ipsum, nosse me.“</ref>\|Augustine\|''Twenty-two Books on the Divine State'' (De civitate Dei), XI, 26}}		{{Quote\|For if I am mistaken, then I am.<ref>The famous passage that echoes Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum". Cf. J. Storz, ''Die Philosophie des hl. Augustinus'' [1882], p. 34-38, where parallel passages are also given; and H. Scholz, ''Glaube und Unglaube in der Weltgeschichte'' [1911], p. 36f.</ref> For he who is not, cannot of course be mistaken; and consequently I am when I am mistaken. Since, then, I am when I am mistaken, how can I be mistaken about my being, since it is certain precisely when I am mistaken? So even if I were mistaken, I would still have to be in order to be able to err, and therefore I am undoubtedly not mistaken in the consciousness that I am. Consequently, I am also not mistaken in the fact that I know about this consciousness of mine. For as well as I know that I am, I also know that I know.<ref>{{Latin}}: „si enim fallor, sum. nam qui non est, utique nec falli potest: ac per hoc sum, si fallor. quia sum ergo, si fallor, quomodo esse me fallor, quando certum est me esse, si fallor? quia igitur essem qui fallerer, etiamsi fallerer, procul dubio in eo, quod me noui esse, non fallor. consequens est autem, ut etiam in eo, quod me noui nosse, non fallar. sicut enim noui esse me, ita noui etiam hoc ipsum, nosse me.“</ref>\|Augustine\|''Twenty-two Books on the Divine State'' (De civitate Dei), XI, 26}}

			Augustine argued similarly in [[w:De Trinitate\|De Trinitate]] X, 10.

			{{Quote\|Who, however, would doubt that he lives, remembers, sees, wills, thinks, knows and judges? For even when one doubts, one lives; when one doubts, one remembers what one doubts; when one doubts, one sees that one doubts; when one doubts, one wants certainty; when one doubts, one thinks; when one doubts, one knows that one does not know; when one doubts, one judges that one should not give one's consent hastily. So when one doubts everything else, he must not doubt all that. If these processes did not exist, he could not doubt about anything at all.\|Augustine\|''Fifteen Books on the Trinity'' (De Trinitate) X, 10}}

			{{GZ\|In Augustine, the new is like a reminder of the Greek life of thought. He looks around him and within himself and says to himself: "Even if everything else that the world reveals is only uncertain and deceptive, there is one thing that cannot be doubted: the certainty of the experience of the soul itself. This is not granted to me by any perception that can deceive me; in this I am in it myself; it is, for I am in it, in that its being is ascribed to it.

			One can see something new in these conceptions in comparison with the Greek thought-life, although at first they resemble a recollection of the same. Greek thought points to the soul; in Augustine it points to the centre of the soul's life. The Greek thinkers consider the soul in its relation to the world; in Augustine, something in the soul-life confronts it and considers this soul-life as a special, self-contained world. One can call the centre of the soul life the "I" of the human being. To the Greek thinkers, the relationship of the soul to the world became a riddle; to the more recent thinkers, the relationship of the "I" to the soul. In Augustine's work, this was only just beginning; the subsequent attempts at a world view still had too much to do to bring world view and religion into harmony for them to become clearly aware of the newness that had now entered spiritual life. And yet subsequently, more or less unconsciously to the souls, lives the endeavour to look at the world riddles in the way demanded by the new element.\|18\|91}}

			Precisely in the fact ''that we exist'', that we know about our being and love this being and knowledge, Augustine saw man as - though not as equal and equally eternal - the image of God in his threefold form. Accordingly, in [[w:De civitate Dei\|De civitate Dei]], XI, 26, it also says in the introduction:

			{{Quote\|And in ourselves, too, we recognise an image of God, i.e. of that supreme Trinity, admittedly not an equal one, but rather one that lags far behind, not even an eternal one and - with which everything is said in brief - not an image that would be of the same essence as God, but nevertheless one of such a kind that among the things created by God, nothing is closer to him by nature, as it should then still be perfected by improvement, so that it comes very close to him in likeness. Namely, we exist, we know our being, and we love this being and knowledge. And in these three pieces no possibility of deception by the mere appearance of truth troubles us. For we do not apprehend them as we do things apart from us with any bodily sense, as we sensually perceive colours by looking, sounds by hearing, scents by smelling, objects of the sense of taste by tasting, hard and soft things by feeling, of which sense-objects we also carry about in thought images<ref>Impressions</ref> quite similar to them but no longer corporeal, hold them in memory, and are stimulated by them to desire them; but without any deceptive pretence of the imagination and its constructions being able to assert itself, it is absolutely certain to me that I am, that I know it, and that I love it. In these pieces I am not at all afraid of the objections of the academics<ref>i.e. the followers of the so-called middle academy [3rd and 2nd century B.C.], which paid homage to scepticism, starting from the fact that there are sensory illusions; self-consciousness is not based on external perception like the knowledge conveyed by the senses, but on direct grasp of one's own being, cognition and striving.</ref> who object: But how if you are mistaken? For if I am mistaken, then I am.\|Augustine\|''De civitate Dei'', XI, 26}}

			== Divine illumination ==
			{{Main\|Devine illumination}}

			The doctrine of Devine illumination advocated by Augustine, which was later systematically elaborated in scholasticism by Bonaventure, has its origin in [[Plato]]'s [[theory of ideas]], as he illustrated it in his [[w:Republic (Plato)\|Politeia]] in the famous allegory of the cave and, in preparation, already in the allegory of the sun. According to this, the knowledge of truth is only possible through the highest spiritual light of the good, which illuminates the soul, just as sensual things only become visible through the light of the sun. For Plotinus and the Neoplatonism that followed him, the source of this spiritual light was "The One", which Augustine equated with God in the Christian sense. God himself is the eternal truth, in whose spirit live the eternal ideas from which he created the visible and invisible world. The divine world spirit (mundus intelligibilis) radiates these ideas and thereby directly enlightens the human soul, which, unlike its material body, is created in the image of God (imago dei).

			Not only the knowledge of God, but also general concepts are imparted to man by a higher authority ("intus ipsi menti praesidentem") that transcends the soul and the intellect. Christ himself, who dwells in man, is the inner teacher ("magister interior") who answers the inquiring man.

			{{Quote\|But he who is questioned is he who teaches; of him it is said that he dwells within man: Christ, that is the unchangeable power of God and the eternal wisdom which questions every reasoning soul.\|Augustine\|''De Magistro'' 11,38}}

			[[Thomas Aquinas]], who followed [[Aristotle]] more closely, did not completely reject the doctrine of Devine illumination, but was very reserved about it. This type of knowledge, which was fully valid for the [[angelic hierarchies]], was only possible to a small extent for man, since he, as the lowest of all spiritual beings, was already so far removed from the source of divine light that he could only recognise the truth in its most general features. God, however, had given man a body in order to extract the ideas from the sensually perceptible things with the help of reason and thus to recognise them in their divine origin.

	== Literature ==		== Literature ==