Augustine, Epicurus, and External World Skepticism

In Contra Academicos 3.11.24, Augustine responds to skepticism about the existence of the external world by arguing that what appears to be the world Ñ as he terms things, the "quasi-earth" and "quasi-sky" Ñ cannot be doubted. While some (e.g., M. Burnyeat and G. Matthews) interpret this passage as a subjectivist response to global skepticism, it is here argued that Augustine's debt to Epicurean epistemology and theology, especially as presented in Cicero's De Natura Deorum 1.25.69 Ð 1.26.74, provides the basis for a much more plausible, realist interpretation of Augustine's argument.