Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language
    • Deutsch
    • English
    • Español (España)
    • Français (France)
    • Italiano
    • Język Polski
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Current
  • Archives
  • Announcements
  • About
    • About the Journal
    • Submissions
    • Editorial Team
    • Scientific Council
    • Reviewers
    • Review process
    • Open Access Policy
    • Ethical Standards
    • Article Processing Charges and Submission Charges
    • Privacy Statement
    • Archiving policy
    • Contact
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language:
  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Español (España)
  • Français (France)
  • Italiano
  • Język Polski

Scientia et Fides

What makes us human? Augustine on interiority, exteriority and the self
  • Home
  • /
  • What makes us human? Augustine on interiority, exteriority and the self
  1. Home /
  2. Archives /
  3. Vol. 5 No. 2 (2017) /
  4. Articles

What makes us human? Augustine on interiority, exteriority and the self

Authors

  • John Anthony Berry University of Malta

Keywords

Human, person, interiority, self, body and soul

Abstract

The composition of the human person is a central issue for Augustine. He addresses it in a philosophico-theological way; particularly in The Soliloquies and in The Confessions. What is at stake here is his exposition of “what” constitutes a person’s being human. This paper refers to some of his key ideas in this regard and attempts to identify and establish what this great thinker understands by specific terminology: the soul, the mind, and the self. His hunger for knowledge of the self helps his readers to ponder on the shifting emphasis between interiority and exteriority as well as a person’s consciousness and selfhood. Augustine wrestles with the concept of the soul, but at no point does he minimise the role of the intellect. After examining four definitions given by Augustine of the human person, this paper attempts to clarify all underpinnings related to this subject, as to be able to answer the topic in question.

References

Primary Sources

Augustine. 1948. On Order [De ordine], trans. Robert P. Russell, Fathers of the Church 5, 239–332. New York: Catholic University of America Press.

Augustine. 2000. Soliloquies [Soliloquia]. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 1947. The Immortality of the Soul [De immortalitate animae], trans. Ludwig Schopp. New York: Catholic University of America Press.

Augustine. 1947. The Measure of the Soul [De quantitate animae], trans. John J. McMahon, Fathers of the Church 2, 59–149. New York: Catholic University of America Press.

Augustine. 2005. On Christian Belief (De Vera Religione), edited by Michael Ramsey, trans. Edmund Hill, The Works of St Augustine I/8, 13–104. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 1997. Confessions [Confessiones], edited by John E. Rotelle, trans. Maria Boulding, The Works of St Augustine I/1. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 1991. The Trinity [De Trinitate] edited by John E. Rotelle, trans. Edmund Hill, The Works of St Augustine I/5. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 1972. The City of God [De civitate Dei], trans. Henry Bettenson, London: Pelican Classics.

Augustine. 1996. On Christian Instruction [De doctrina Christiana], edited by John E. Rotelle, trans. Edmund Hill, The Works of St Augustine I/11. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 2000–2004. Exposition of the Psalms [Enarrationes in Psalmos] edited by John E. Rotelle/Boniface Ramsey, trans. Maria Boulding, The Works of St Augustine I/15–20. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 2005. Letters [Epistulae], edited by John E. Rotelle/Boniface Ramsey, trans. Roland Teske, The Works of St Augustine II/1–4. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 1990–1997. Sermons [Sermones], edited by John E. Rotelle, trans. Edmund Hill, The Works of St Augustine III/1–11. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 2006. The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life [De moribus Ecclesiae catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum], edited by Boniface Ramsey, The Works of St Augustine I/19. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Augustine. 2010. Revisions [Retractationes], edited by Roland Teske, trans. Boniface Ramsey, The Works of St Augustine III/14. Hyde Park, New York: New City Press.

Secondary Sources

Alici, Luigi., and Remo Piccolomini, Antonio Pieretti. 2001. Interiorità e persona. Agostino nella filosofia del novecento 2. Roma: Città Nuova.

Alici, Luigi. 1991. “Interiorità e speranza.” In Interiorità e intenzionalità nel De civitate Dei di Sant’Agostino. Atti delle III. Seminario Internazionale del centro di Studi Agostiniani di Perugia, edited by Remo Piccolomini, 55–73. Roma: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum.

Battenhouse, Roy W. 1956. A Companion to the Study of St Augustine, New York: Oxford University Press.

Bermon, Emmanuel. 1986–1994. “Persona.” In Augustinus-Lexikon, 4, edited by Cornelius Mayer, Karl Heinz Chelius, 693–700. Basel: Schwabe Verlag.

Bogliolo, Luigi. 1956. “Significato e attualità dell’interiorità agostiniana.” In S. Agostino e le grandi correnti della filosofia contemporanea. Atti del Congresso Italiano di Filosofia Agostiniana, Roma 20–23 ottobre 1954, 319–26. Tolentino: Edizioni Agostiniane.

Bonafede, Giulio. 1954. “Interiorità e immanenza.” In S. Agostino e le grandi correnti della filosofia contemporanea, 312–8. Roma: La Civiltà cattolica.

Campelo, Moisés María. 1981. Conocer y pensar: Introducción a la noética agustiniana. Valladolid: Ed. Estudio Agustiniano.

Cary, Philip. 2003. Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self: The Legacy of a Christian Platonist. Oxford: University Press.

Cary, Phillip. 1999. “Skeptics, Skepticism.” In Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, edited by Allan D. Fitzgerald, 802–3. Grand Rapids, Michigan – Cambridge: Eerdmans.

Cary, Phillip. 2003. “Book Seven: Inner Vision as the Goal of Augustine’s Life.” In A Reader’s Companion to Augustine’s Confessions, edited by Kim Paffenroth, Robert P. Kennedy, 107–26. Louisville, London: Westminster John Knox Press.

Cary, Phillip. 1999. “Interiority.” In Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, edited by Allan D. Fitzgerald, 454–6. Grand Rapids, Michigan – Cambridge: Eerdmans.

Cary, Phillip. 1999. “Varro.” In Augustine through the Ages. An Encyclopedia, edited by Allan D. Fitzgerald, 863–4. Grand Rapids, Michigan – Cambridge: Eerdmans.

Cary, Phillip. 2008. Inner Grace: Augustine in the Traditions of Plato and Paul. Oxford: University Press.

Ceriotti, Giancarlo. 2004. “Il linguaggio dell’interiorità.” Agostino d’Ippona. Presenza e pensiero. La scoperta dell’interiorità, edited by Alfredo Marini, 41–63. Milano: F. Angeli.

Ciacon, Carlo. 1964. Interiorità e metafisica: Aristotele, Plotino, Agostino, Bonaventura, Tommaso, Rosmini. Bologna: Zanichelli.

Cipriani, Nello. 1996. “L’influsso di Varrone sul pensiero antropologico e morale nei primi scritti di S. Agostino.” Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 53:369–400.

Costantini, Elio. 1987. “La ricerca filosofica come processo d’interiorità in S. Agostino e in Husserl.” In Congresso Internazionale su S. Agostino nel XVI centenario della conversione, Roma, 15–20 settembre 1986. Atti 2, 483–91. Roma: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum.

Cotta, Sergio. 1991. “La pace tra interiorità e intenzionalità: la posizione agostiniana.” In Interiorità e intenzionalità nel De civitate Dei di Sant’Agostino. Atti delle III. Seminario Internazionale del centro di Studi Agostiniani di Perugia, edited by Remo Piccolomini, 43–54. Roma: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum.

Fabro, Cornelio. 1958. “Coscienza e autocoscienza dell’anima.” Doctor Communis 11:97–123.

Flórez, Ramiro. 1952. “La Inquietud religiosa y las condiciones de la paz personal en el pensamiento de San Agustín.” In Actas del XXXV Congreso Eucarístico Internacional, Sesiones de Estudio. 1:265–78. Barcelona: s.n.

Flórez, Ramiro. 1954. “Puntos para una antropología agustiniana.” In Augustinus magister: Congrès International Augustinien, Paris, 21–24 septembre 1954, 1:551–57. Paris: Études augustiniennes.

Flórez, Ramiro. 1958. Las dos dimensiones del hombre agustiniano. Madrid: Ediciones Religión y Cultura.

Giacon, Carlo. 1964. Interiorità e metafisica: Aristotele, Plotino, Agostino, Bonaventura, Tommaso, Bologna: Zanichelli.

Gilson, Etienne. 1936. The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy, New York: Scribner’s.

Henry, Paul. 1937. “Augustine and Plotinus.” Journal of Theological Studies 38:1–23.

Henry, Paul. 1938. La vision d’Ostie. Sa place dans la Vie et l’Œuvre de saint Augustin. Paris: Vrin.

Henry, Paul. 1934. Plotin et l’Occident. Louvain: Spicilegium.

Henry, Paul. 1960. Saint Augustine on Personality, New York: Macmillan.

Labriolle, Pierre Champagne de. 1948. “Introduction.” In De Immortalitate Animae, Œuvre de Saint Augustin, V. Dialogues Philosophiques, vol. 2: Dieu et l’Ame, edited by Idem, 165–7. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer.

O’Daly, Gerard. 1987. Augustine’s Philosophy of Mind, London: Duckworth.

O’Donnell, James J. 2001. “Augustine: His Time and Lives.” In The Cambridge Companion to Augustine, edited by Eleonore Stump, Norman Kretzmann, 8–25. Cambridge: University Press.

Piccolomini, Remo. 2002. “L’interiorità e il ricupero dell’uomo.” Rivista di Scienze Religiose 16:279–90.

Ramsey, Boniface. 2000. “Introduction.” In Soliloquies, edited by Boniface Ramsey, Augustine, 7–14. New York: New City, Hyde Park.

Sanabria, José Rubén. 1987. “Agustín de Hipona, filósofo de la interioridad y del amor.” Revista de filosofía 20:118–56.

Vannier, Marie-Anne. 1990. “Saint Augustin et la creation.” In Collectanea Augustiniana. Mélanges T.J. Van Bavel, edited by Bernard Bruning, Mathijs Lamberigts, Jozef Van Houtem, 1:349–71. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Williams, Daniel D. 1956. “The Significance of St Augustine Today.” In A Companion to the Study of St Augustine, edited by Roy W. Battenhouse, 3–14. New York – Oxford: University Press.

Williams, Rowan. 1990. The Wound of Knowledge. Christian Spirituality from the New Testament to St John of the Cross, London: Cowley Publications.

Scientia et Fides

Downloads

  • PDF

Published

2017-08-24

How to Cite

1.
BERRY, John Anthony. What makes us human? Augustine on interiority, exteriority and the self. Scientia et Fides. Online. 24 August 2017. Vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 87-106. [Accessed 1 July 2025].
  • ISO 690
  • ACM
  • ACS
  • APA
  • ABNT
  • Chicago
  • Harvard
  • IEEE
  • MLA
  • Turabian
  • Vancouver
Download Citation
  • Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
  • BibTeX

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2017)

Section

Articles

License

CC BY ND 4.0. The Creator/Contributor is the Licensor, who grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work on the fields indicated in the License Agreement.

  • The Licensor grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work/related rights item specified in § 1 within the following fields: a) recording of Work/related rights item; b) reproduction (multiplication) of Work/related rights item in print and digital technology (e-book, audiobook); c) placing the copies of the multiplied Work/related rights item on the market; d) entering the Work/related rights item to computer memory; e) distribution of the work in electronic version in the open access form on the basis of Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 3.0) via the digital platform of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press and file repository of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
  • Usage of the recorded Work by the Licensee within the above fields is not restricted by time, numbers or territory.
  • The Licensor grants the license for the Work/related rights item to the Licensee free of charge and for an unspecified period of time.

FULL TEXT License Agreement

Stats

Number of views and downloads: 5472
Number of citations: 2

ISSN/eISSN

ISSN: 2300-7648

eISSN: 2353-5636

Search

Search

Browse

  • Browse Author Index
  • Issue archive

User

User

Current Issue

  • Atom logo
  • RSS2 logo
  • RSS1 logo

Information

  • For Readers
  • For Authors
  • For Librarians

Newsletter

Subscribe Unsubscribe

Language

  • Deutsch
  • English
  • Español (España)
  • Français (France)
  • Italiano
  • Język Polski

Tags

Search using one of provided tags:

Human, person, interiority, self, body and soul
Up

Akademicka Platforma Czasopism

Najlepsze czasopisma naukowe i akademickie w jednym miejscu

apcz.umk.pl

Partners

  • Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie
  • Akademickie Towarzystwo Andragogiczne
  • Fundacja Copernicus na rzecz Rozwoju Badań Naukowych
  • Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
  • Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
  • Instytut Tomistyczny
  • Karmelitański Instytut Duchowości w Krakowie
  • Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych w Krośnie
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych we Włocławku
  • Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa im. Stanisława Pigonia w Krośnie
  • Polska Fundacja Przemysłu Kosmicznego
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze
  • Towarzystwo Miłośników Torunia
  • Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
  • Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
  • Uniwersytet Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
  • Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
  • Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
  • Uniwersytet Warszawski
  • Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna - Książnica Kopernikańska
  • Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Pelplinie / Wydawnictwo Diecezjalne „Bernardinum" w Pelplinie

© 2021- Nicolaus Copernicus University Accessibility statement Shop