Augustine

Paper 3

Write a 4-6 page paper ((Times New Roman, 12-point, double-spaced, one-inch margins) on one of the following topics:

Topic 1. In Book 2 of On Free Will, Augustine sets out to demonstrate that God exists. He does this by arguing along the following lines:

If there is something which is (a) eternal and unchangeable, and (b) superior to human reason, that thing is God.

The truth of numbers (Augustine’s example is 7+3=10) is eternal and unchangeable, and is superior to human reason.

Therefore, truth exists and it is God.

Evaluate this argument. Does this argument succeed in demonstrating that God exists? Why or why not? What, if anything, does this argument actually prove?

If you are going to say that the argument does succeed in proving that God exists, it is not enough merely to repeat or summarize the argument. You need to explain exactly how and why it works, and raise and respond to possible objections that might be brought against it. If you are going to say that the argument does not succeed, you need to show that you understand how the argument is supposed to work, and show exactly how, why, and where it is flawed or breaks down.

Topic 2. In his Soliloquies, Augustine declares, “I desire to know God and the soul.—Nothing more?—Nothing whatever” (see Earlier Writings, pp. 26-27). This declaration resonates throughout all the works of Augustine that we have studied this semester.

Explain why, for Augustine, the investigation of God and the soul (or self) is one investigation rather than two. Why must the examination of the soul or self inevitably lead to the discovery of God? Why must the search for God necessarily begin with reflection on the self?

To address these questions, you will need to consider Augustine’s radical re-thinking of our understanding of both God and the self. God, he insists, should not be understood as a being “out there” in the world among all the other beings, whose existence some people affirm and others deny. Rather, God is found in the inmost depth of the self, as the Truth or intelligibility without which there could be no world of things. The self, in turn, must be understood not as one thing among other things in the world, but as consciousness, awareness, or attention, which which may direct itself “outward” from itself to things in the world, or “inward” to itself and to God within itself.

In working on this topic, do not fall into the mistake of thinking that God and the self are the same thing. The search for God must begin with the turn to the self, and the investigation of the self must inevitably lead to God, but God and the self are not the same thing. God is found within the self, but Augustine always insists that since the soul or self is changeable, the self is not God and God is not the self. God is “inner than my inmost and higher than my highmost:” that is, more deeply within me than the inmost aspect of what I myself am, and higher than the highest aspect of what I myself am.

If you choose this topic, you will need to work with the readings from On the Trinity that we’re addressing in the last week of class, as well as what we’ve read earlier.

Instructions:

1. The paper is due by the end of the day on Monday, August 9. Submit the paper by uploading it to Brightspace, under Assessment>Assignments>Augustine Paper 3. Please submit it as a Word document or pdf. I cannot open documents in other formats, such as GoogleDocs.

2. Do not use any sources for the paper except the works of Augustine himself. Do not draw on any outside sources (online or print).

3. The first time you cite any work of Augustine, give a full reference in a footnote, i.e., at the bottom of the page, not in the body of the paper itself. The reference must include all the following information: author, title, translator, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, page or passage number. You must give a full reference like this the first time you refer to any one of Augustine’s works. Subsequent references to the same work can be given by putting the title and page number in parentheses within the text of your paper.

Note that it is not correct to refer simply to a collection such as Augustine: Earlier Writings. Obviously Augustine never wrote anything with this title. You need to give the title of the particular treatise you’re referring to (e.g., Of True Religion or On Free Will, etc.), and then indicate that this is in Earlier Writings, with the publication information for the volume.

Here’s the information you need if you cite any of the readings on Brightspace:

Augustine, On Order, tr. Robert P. Russell, in Writings of Saint Augustine, vol. 1, ed. Ludwig Schopp (New York: Cima, 1948).

Augustine, The City of God, tr. Gerald G. Walsh and Grace Monahan (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1952).

Augustine, On the Trinity, Books 8-15, tr. Stephen McKenna, ed. Gareth B. Matthews. (Cambridge: Cambrige University Press, 2002).

4. For general instructions and guidelines for writing a good paper, see the first two paper assignments.

5. If you’re having trouble, want more advice, or just want to be sure you’re on the right track, please feel free to contact me to arrange a Zoom meeting.

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