SIGNS, LANGUAGE AND KNOWLEDGE IN AUGUSTINE’S DE MAGISTRO
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21680/1983-2109.2024v31n66ID35609Keywords:
Saint Augustine, Augustinian conception of language, Teaching, Significabilia.Abstract
SIGNS, LANGUAGE AND KNOWLEDGE IN AUGUSTINE’S DE MAGISTRO
Abstract:
In his dialogue De Magistro, Saint Augustine debates whether one human being can teach another something using language. For this purpose, he develops his semantics and a general semiotic theory. The first and minor objective of the paper is to show that Wittgenstein’s (1953) Augustinian conception of language applies to Augustine’s semantics. The second and major objective is to show that his skeptical conclusion is epistemic and derives from his strong requirements for justification. For Augustine knowledge requires acquaintance with the epistemic objects. In the case of sensible knowledge, justification consists of first-hand acquaintance; in the case of intellectual knowledge, it consists of understanding thanks to divine illumination.
Keywords:
Saint Augustine, Augustinian conception of language, Teaching, Significabilia.
Downloads
References
References
AUGUSTINUS, A. Opera omnia. Opera et studio monachorum ordinis Sancti Benedicti e congregatione S. Mauri. Post Lovaniensium theologorum recensionem... Accurante J.-P. Migne, Patrologiæ cursus completus, Series Latina, t. 32-47. Lutetiæ Parisiorum, excudebatur et venit apud J.-P. Migne editorem, 1841-1849. Parisii, Garnier, 1858. Turnhout, Brepols, 1982-1993. 2006. 16 vols.
AUGUSTINUS, A. De Magistro. In: AUGUSTINUS, A. Opera Omnia. Ed. Migre, J.P. Vol. 32. Paris, 1845. p. 1193–1220.
AUGUSTINUS, A. Retractiones. In: The Fathers of the Church: a new translation. Vol.60. Washington D.C: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010.
AUGUSTINUS, A. The Teacher. Tranlated R, T, Russell. In: The Fathers of the Church: a new translation. Vol. 59. Washington D.C: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017, pp. 1–62.
BARNES, J. Socrates and the Jury: Paradoxes in Plato’s Distinction between Knowledge and True Belief'. PASS, vol. 54, 1980), p. 193–206.
BURNYEAT, M., F. The Inaugural Address: Wittgenstein and Augustine De Magistro. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, Vol. 61,1987, pp. 1–24.
CHAPPELL, S-G. Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus. In: ZALTA, E.N.; NODELMAN, U. (eds.) U. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Fall 2023 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/plato-theaetetus/..Accessed: 12.03.2024.
EVANS, G. T. The Varieties of Reference. Edited by John McDowell. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.
GRAMIGNA, R. Augustine and the study of signs and signification. Tartu: University of Tartu Press, 2018.
GRIMM, S. Understanding. In: ZALTA, E.N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer Edition 2021) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/understanding/.Accessed: 05.03.2024.
KRAUT, R. Plato. In: ZALTA, E.N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/plato/.Acessed: 05.03.24.
KRIPKE, Saul A. Naming and necessity. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1980.
MADEC, G. 1975. Analyse de “De magistro”. Revue des Études Augustiniennes, vol. 21, 1975, pp.63–71.
MEIER-OESTER, S. Medieval Semiotics.. In: ZALTA, E.N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/semiotics-medieval/. Accessed: 20.02.2024.
PASAU, R. Divine Illumination. In: ZALTA., E.N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring Edition 2020).https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/illumination/. Accessed: 07.03.2024.
QUINE, W.V. Word and Object. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1960.
RUSSELL, B. On denoting. Mind, v. 14, n. 56, p. 479–493.
SILVERMAN, A. Plato’s Middle Period Metaphysics and Epistemology. In: ZALTA, E.N.; NODELMAN, U. (eds.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Fall 2022 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2022/entries/plato-metaphysics/. Accessed: 20.02.2024.
SORENSON, R. Epistemic Paradoxes. ZALTA, E., N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Spring 2022 Edition). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/epistemic-paradoxes/. Accessed: 03.03.2024.
TORNAU, C. Saint Augustine. In: ZALTA, E., N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Summer Edition 2020). https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/augustine/ Accessed: 11.03.2024.
WITTGENSTEIN, L. Philosophical Investigations. Translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, P. M. S. Hacker, and Joachim Schulte.4. Ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2009.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Martin Motloch
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.