Aurelius Augustine. On Trinity: 15 Books against Arians

Abstract:

The main purpose of this work is the affirmation of the catholic doctrine on the whole Trinity. The treatise is apparently divided into two parts. In the first part (Books I-VII) Augustine proves himself to be an exegete as he defends the unity and equality of God’s essence in three Persons. In the second part (Books VIII-XV) we find a properly philosophical argument of the defended doctrine since it is grounded by means by the logic of the human’s formation as God’s image. The particular philosophical interest consists in Books X, XII, XIV. Book X considers the problem of self-cognition, the mind’s thinking of itself which is indispensable in order to contemplate the beauty of science in relations of things and to comprehend the aesthetic determinacy of knowledge in general. In this very book one differentiates between the striving for knowledge as such and curiosity as this distinction is important for Augustine who tries to show the difference between philosophical knowledge whose highest level is knowledge of God and that of finite (particular) sciences. Moreover this book is significant because here Augustine states his thesis of self-certainty of thinking of which Descartes will make the principle of philosophy. In Book XII the reader’s attention is drawn by the justification of the difference between knowledge as reasonable cognition of the temporal and wisdom as comprehending cognition of the eternal. The same problem is the matter of Book XIV.

Key words: Trinity, image, God, human, good, cognition, comprehension, mind, temporal, eternal, knowledge, science, wisdom