New Essay Volume 3

11. (1245)

[St. Augustine's philosophical development]

St. Augustine's mind passed through those stages of development which, as I have observed, are necessary to philosophy if it is to progress from its beginning as popular philosophy to become more erudite and perfect (cf. vol. 2, 29-34). Popular philosophy does not see the difficulties present in philosophical questions; it presses ahead confidently and boldly. But when it comes up against something too difficult for it, it falls into the opposite defect. In its totally bewildered state, no solution offers it any satisfaction; in the words of a modern writer, scepticism seems to be 'common sense's first form and manifestation on the philosophical stage'.

Thus St. Augustine began as an academic philosopher. Hs doubts settled, he moved naturally as it were, into Platonic philosophy. Platonic teaching on ideas appertains to learned philosophy, but to a philosophy still in its first period and therefore imperfect. Unable to find the simplest solutions to the difficulty it sees, it has recourse to ingenious hypotheses which sin more by excess than by defect. St. Augustine's mind, however, could not stop here. He saw that the Platonic theory postulated too much concerning the origin of ideas. He removed its excess, and so arrived at truth. Truth consisted in realising that human nature is essentially reasonable and hence recognises truth when it looks for and finds it. For the same reason, a child can accurately reply to questions asked methodically, even about things not previously taught it. Thus, in his Retractions (bk. 1, c. 8) Augustine reproaches himself for having once said that the soul seems to have brought all its skills along with it. He says that 'it is possible... for a child to answer a question because a child is an intelligent nature': fieri enim potest...ut hoc ideo possit (interrogata respondere), quia NATURA INTELLIGIBILIS EST. In the same place he explains what constitutes an intelligent nature, namely, an innate light: 'I have said that those who are learned in the liberal arts discover these disciplines within themselves but hidden from them by forgetfulness, until they disinter them. But I reject this. The more likely reason why even the unskilled, when correctly asked, can say something about any discipline is that the light of eternal reason is present to them as far as they can understand it. They see the immutable truths in this light not because they once knew them and then forgot them, as Plato and others opined': propterea...quia praesens est eis, quantum id capere possunt, LUMEN RATIONIS AETERNAE* , ubi haec immutabilia vera conspiciunt, non quia ea noverant aliquando et obliti sunt, quod Platoni vel talibus visum est (ibid., c. 4). This is precisely the development that Plato's teaching needed, as we have observed. All ideas, instead of being considered innate, must be subordinated to one single innate idea, the light of reason. From this idea all other ideas have their origin. It is an idea in which, on the occasion of sensations and of questions, all things are seen and intellectually grasped (cf. vol. 1, 229-233). Like St. Thomas, I call this light the 'principle of knowledge' (PRINCIPIUM COGNITIONIS). It tells us that all we know, is known in rationibus aeternis sicut IN COGNITIONIS PRINCIPIO [in the eternal reasons, the principle as it were of knowledge] (S.T., I, q. 84, art. 5). In order that no doubt remain concerning the understanding of this principle of knowledge, we should note that St. Augustine (and St. Thomas after him) calls it truth: Nec ego utique in te (VIDEMUS VERUM* ), nec tu in me, sed ambo in ipsa, quae supra mentes nostras est, incommutabili VERITATE* [Neither I in you, nor you in me (SEE WHAT IS TRUE), but both see it in the immutable TRUTH itself, which is above our minds] (Confess., bk. 11, c. 25). We observed that, according to St. Thomas, truth, in which we see all things in this present life, is the idea of being in all its universality (cf 1123 ss.). Thus, all that these two great men teach is harmonious and complete. Our teaching starts and continues from theirs.