Augustine's "I": The "Knowing Subject" and the Self

Augustine's scripturally inspired inquiry into the nature of time led him to raise many of the questions that contemporary theory poses regarding language and subjectivity. Particularly in the Confessions, Augustine subverted the Greek conceptual order, confronting the logocentric "metaphysics of presence" with the Jewish and Christian themes of faith, memory, and embodiment. In contrast to the conclusions drawn by post-structural theory, his work suggests that the deconstruction of the Knowing Subject of classical philosophy leads not to the abrogation of the self, but to its affirmation.