A phenomenological reading of Book X, 5-7 of Augustine Confessions : the knowledge about yourself, the divine “objectuality” and the nature of soul
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18012/arf.v8i1.57580Keywords:
knowledge, divine, soul, phenomenology, middle ages., knowledge, divine, soul, phenomenology, middle ageAbstract
The article focuses on the phenomenological appropriation carried out by Martin Heidegger from chapters five to seven of Book X of Augustine's Confessions, corresponding to § 8 (“The introduction to book X”) of the Friborgense lecture of the summer semester of 1921 entitled “Augustine and Neoplatonism ”(Augustin und der Neuplatonismus). In the present paragraph of the Heidegger lecture, he discusses four aspects of Augustine's confession-praise: 1st) The reason for the confiteri before God and before men (Confessions, X, 1-4); 2) Knowledge about oneself in the context of the abyss of human consciousness (Conf. X, 5); 3º)The “objectivity” of God is not originally accessed from the Greek perspective of divine attributes (Conf. X, 6); 4th) The essence of the soul receives its life from God Himself, who “surpasses” it. Hence the confession: “Who is the One who is above the top of my soul?” (Conf. X, 7). In my reading I will highlight only the last three aspects based on Heidegger's reading of the being of the life of Augustine of Hippo from the perspective of the meaning of realizing life as an original phenomenon. Confessing both about what you know about yourself (Selbst) as well as what you ignore yourself and, at the same time, becoming a question for yourself (quaestio mihi factus sum) only makes sense based on the concrete connection from the factual experience of the self (Selbst), in the existence of authentic self. In the attitude of the Augustinian search for God and himself, Heidegger sees a phenomenological drive when he talks about God from the perspective of realization (Vollzug), that is, in the existential dynamics of the quaerere Deum. Finally, the ambiguity of Augustine's journey is explored by Heidegger, sometimes based on an objective interpretation due to the influence of Greek metaphysics (God as an object of fruition [fruitio Dei]), sometimes based on a historical-existential approach based on phatic life.
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