PHIL 405: Augustine
Catalog Description
Prepares students for advanced work on the philosophical thought of Augustine.
PHIL 405: Augustine
As well as being a subtle religious thinker who helped set the foundation of Christian theology, Augustine was a first rate philosopher whose influence upon the western philosophical tradition has been immense. The goal of this course is to provide an overview of Augustine’s thought, with particular focus on those parts of it that are most interest to philosophers. This we will do through a reading of two of Augustine’s masterworks—Confessions and On the Trinity—as well as several short treatises that deal with a variety of specialized topics. The broad theme of the course is Augustine’s intellectual development and his assessment of such diverse influences as Manicheanism, Neoplatonism, Academic Skepticism and Pauline theology. We will also look at a variety of topics that occupied Augustine in his capacity as a possibility of knowledge and the nature of the human mind. In all of this we should get a good sense of the philosophical dimensions Augustine’s thought and the manner in which he envisioned the practice of philosophy within a life devoted to wisdom.
Catalog Description
Prepares students for advanced work on the philosophical thought of Augustine.
PHIL 405: Augustine
As well as being a subtle religious thinker who helped set the foundation of Christian theology, Augustine was a first rate philosopher whose influence upon the western philosophical tradition has been immense. The goal of this course is to provide an overview of Augustine’s thought, with particular focus on those parts of it that are most interest to philosophers. This we will do through a reading of two of Augustine’s masterworks—Confessions and On the Trinity—as well as several short treatises that deal with a variety of specialized topics. The broad theme of the course is Augustine’s intellectual development and his assessment of such diverse influences as Manicheanism, Neoplatonism, Academic Skepticism and Pauline theology. We will also look at a variety of topics that occupied Augustine in his capacity as a possibility of knowledge and the nature of the human mind. In all of this we should get a good sense of the philosophical dimensions Augustine’s thought and the manner in which he envisioned the practice of philosophy within a life devoted to wisdom.