The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Augustine

354–430 CE

Also known as Augustine of Hippo, Aurelius Augustinus

Bishop of Hippo whose writings on sin, grace, free will and time made him the most influential Christian thinker of late antiquity and the Latin Middle Ages.

Painting of a bishop in gold vestments writing at a desk, gazing up at a radiant light
Philippe de Champaigne, about 1645–1650, painted more than twelve centuries after Augustine's death. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Philippe de Champaigne · Public domain · See the original

Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.

Confessions 1.1, translated by E. B. Pusey

Born in Thagaste in Roman North Africa, Augustine taught rhetoric in Carthage, Rome and Milan before converting to Christianity in 386; he later became bishop of Hippo. His Confessions tells the story of his restless search for truth, and includes a famous reflection on the nature of time.

Reading Platonist philosophers, above all Plotinus, helped him think of God and the soul as immaterial. He wrote extensively on free will, evil, grace and the relation between faith and reason, and in The City of God he contrasted the “earthly city” with the “city of God”. His authority in the Latin West went almost unchallenged for a thousand years.

Key ideas

“If I am mistaken, I exist”
Against the sceptics, Augustine argued that being mistaken proves I exist, since there must be someone who is mistaken. The argument is similar to, and probably inspired, Descartes’s cogito.
Evil as privation
Evil is not a substance but a lack or corruption of goodness. Everything that exists is good in its degree, because God created it; moral evil is an evil will.
The will
No earlier philosopher came as close as Augustine to seeing the will as a power of choosing, distinct from both reason and desire. Some scholars say he “discovered” the will.
Time and the mind
Past, present and future don’t truly exist: the past is gone, the future not yet, and the present has no length. Time is real for us as present memory of the past, attention to the present and expectation of the future.
Tradition
Western
Region
North Africa and Italy

Influences

Influenced by

Augustine354–430 CE

Influenced

500 CE – 1400

1400 – 1800

1800 – 1900

1900 onwards

Influenced by

Augustine354–430 CE

Influenced

500 CE – 1400

1400 – 1800

1800 – 1900

1900 onwards

Where these links come from
  • Augustine drew on Plato. Source: Christian Tornau, Augustine of Hippo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Augustine drew on Plotinus. Source: Christian Tornau, Augustine of Hippo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • John Scottus Eriugena drew on Augustine. Source: Dermot Moran and Adrian Guiu, John Scottus Eriugena, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Anselm of Canterbury drew on Augustine. Source: Thomas Williams, Anselm of Canterbury, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Peter Abelard drew on Augustine. Source: Christian Tornau, Augustine of Hippo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Bonaventure drew on Augustine. Source: Tim Noone, R. E. Houser and Joshua Benson, Bonaventure, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Thomas Aquinas drew on Augustine. Source: Robert Pasnau, Thomas Aquinas, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Meister Eckhart drew on Augustine. Source: Amber L. Griffioen, Meister Eckhart, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Blaise Pascal drew on Augustine. Source: Desmond Clarke and William Wood, Blaise Pascal, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Nicolas Malebranche drew on Augustine. Source: Tad Schmaltz, Nicolas Malebranche, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein argued against Augustine. Source: Anat Biletzki and Anat Matar, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Hannah Arendt drew on Augustine. Source: Tatjana Tömmel and Maurizio Passerin d’Entrèves, Hannah Arendt, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Key works

Sources

  1. Christian Tornau, Augustine of Hippo, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy