Augustine's Love of Wisdom: An Introspective Philosophy

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE I But what ofwisdom, the love ofwhich has given the name "philosophy " to one ofthe most important areas ofhuman study? Wisdom is one ofthe key names ofGod in The Trinity (15.7.12), but what does Augustine finally say about it in the Confessions? One answer is found in book 12 (15.20). There he sees two levels of sapiential knowledge: Though we do not find time before it (for "wisdom has been created before all things," Ecclesiasticus 1:4), it is certainly not that wisdom which is absolutely co-eternal and equal with. Thee, 0 God of ours, Its own Father, that Wisdom through which all things have been created, the principle (principium) in which Thou hast made heaven and earth. It is a wisdom which has been created (sed profecto sapientia quae creata est), an intellectual nature which is light by virtue of a contemplation ofLight (intellectualis natura scilicet, quae contemplatione luminis lumen est); for it is also called wisdom, even though created. But there is a great difference between the light which is a source ofillumination and that which receives it, and there is an equally great difference between the wisdom which creates and that which is created. Of course, the uncreated Wisdom of which Augustine speaks here is the second Person ofthe Trinity, the Word ofGod. As such, this eternal being is not something that is ever possessed by humans . The lower-level, created wisdom would seem to be that special subjective quality ofthe souls ofthose people who achieve a high grade of intellectual and volitional perfection. This is what enables the sage to make especially good judgments and willingly to act in accord with the eternal standards of virtue. It also extends to the reasonable control of excessive impulses of passions in humans. This is obviously a level ofperfection achieved but rarely by human agents. It is created in the sense that the psychic quality, or habit, of I 210 211 I E P I LOG U E wisdom is an acquired or infused perfection ofthe soul, which is itselfcreated by God. And it is created, as Augustine sees it, because God makes it possible for human intellects to attain such wisdom. A dozen years before writing the last books ofthe Confessions, the newly baptized Augustine composed the treatise Morals ofthe Catholic Church. In it (21.38) he commented on Paul's warning: "Beware lest anyone seduce you by philosophy" (Col. 2:8). Augustine's explanation ofthis gives us an insight into his early understanding ofthe love ofwisdom. Since the very name philosophy, etymologically considered, means something great that should be desired with the whole mind, for indeed philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom (siquidem philosophia est amor studiumque sapientiae), the Apostle very prudently adds, lest he seem to downgrade the love of wisdom (ne ab amore sapientiae deterrere videretur), "and the elements of this world." For, there are some people who have abandoned the virtues and are ignorant about what God is, and about how great is the majesty of a Nature that abides forever in the same manner (majestas semper eodem modo manentis naturae). These are people who think they are doing something important, if they search out, with extreme curiosity and care, this bodily mass ofthe universe that we call the world. This generates so much pride that they seem to dwell in the very heavens that they so frequently discuss. So the soul should restrain itself from craving for this sort of empty knowledge, ifit proposes to serve God with an unsullied mind. For one is, in most cases, deceived by such love, thinking that nothing exists except the body (at aut nihil putet esse, nisi corpus). Or even if, compelled by authority, one admits that there is something incorporeal, one cannot think ofit except in terms ofbodily imagery, believing that this is the only way that reality exists, because false sense perception gives this impression . So it is in reference to this, that a person is warned to avoid false images. Even as a newly baptized Christian, Augustine retains his respect for philosophy. It is astrology, and the people who try to seem wise by such pseudoscience, that the warning is against. He thinks that worthwhile philosophical thinking must be open to the world of the spirit and the guidance ofeternal wisdom. A quarter-century later (A.D. 412), Augustine sent a long letter to Consentius (Epist 120) in which he explained the relation offaith to reason...