Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 Peter Lombard and Jerome
- 2 Philip the Chancellor
- 3 Bonaventure
- 4 Aquinas
- 5 Balance-sheet
- TRANSLATIONS
- Notes on the translations
- Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 1.7
- Augustine, On the Trinity, book 12 (excerpts)
- Peter Lombard, Books of Judgements 2.39
- Philip the Chancellor, Summa de bono, treatise on conscience
- Bonaventure, Commentary on Peter Lombard's Books of ‘Judgements’ 2.39
- Aquinas, Debated Questions on Truth 16–17
- APPENDICES
- Bibliography
- Analytical index of subjects
- Index of proper names
- Index of Biblical references
Augustine, On the Trinity, book 12 (excerpts)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Glossary
- 1 Peter Lombard and Jerome
- 2 Philip the Chancellor
- 3 Bonaventure
- 4 Aquinas
- 5 Balance-sheet
- TRANSLATIONS
- Notes on the translations
- Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 1.7
- Augustine, On the Trinity, book 12 (excerpts)
- Peter Lombard, Books of Judgements 2.39
- Philip the Chancellor, Summa de bono, treatise on conscience
- Bonaventure, Commentary on Peter Lombard's Books of ‘Judgements’ 2.39
- Aquinas, Debated Questions on Truth 16–17
- APPENDICES
- Bibliography
- Analytical index of subjects
- Index of proper names
- Index of Biblical references
Summary
Born in Souk Ahras, eastern Algeria, to a Christian mother and pagan father. Educated in the pagan schools of north Africa, he became fond of Latin literature but found Greek difficult. After twelve years as a teacher in Souk Ahras, during which he became a Manichean, he went to Rome in 383 and was appointed to the chair of Rhetoric at Milan, where he came under the influence of Ambrose. After a mystical experience, he became a Christian in 387, returned to Souk Ahras in 388 and founded a monastery. He was ordained priest in 391, became auxiliary bishop of Hippo, near Tunis, four years later, and bishop of Hippo in 396. His voluminous writings were enormously influential throughout the middle ages; he engaged in many local controversies, but is best known for his autobiography, the Confessions. In addition to some biblical commentaries, he wrote two major works, The City of God and On the Trinity. The passage from the latter translated below expounds his distinction between wisdom and knowledge, which is referred to by Philip the Chancellor, Bonaventure and Aquinas as the distinction between higher and lower reason in their treatises on conscience. At the end, there is an interpretation of the dialogue between Socrates and the slave-boy in Plato's Meno, which is taken up by Bonaventure.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Conscience in Medieval Philosophy , pp. 81 - 89Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1980