Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine: A Stoic-Platonic Synthesis
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2013)
Abstract
This book argues that Augustine assimilated the Stoic theory of perception and mental language (lekta/dicibilia), and that this epistemology underlies his accounts of motivation, affectivity, therapy for the passions, and moral progress. Byers elucidates seminal passages which have long puzzled commentators, such as Confessions 8, City of God 9 and 14, Replies to Simplicianus 1, and obscure sections of the later ‘anti-Pelagian’ works. Tracking the Stoic terminology, Byers analyzes Augustine’s engagement with Cicero, Seneca, Ambrose, Jerome, Origen, and Philo of Alexandria, demonstrating that Augustine appropriated Stoicism with greater sophistication than other religious writers. She also shows how he moved beyond the Stoics by enriching Stoic cognitivism with Platonic motivational theory, arguing that Augustine created a coherent synthesis. This newly discovered Augustinian moral psychology has elements that contemporary philosophers and psychologists have identified as important.Author's Profile
Reprint years
2012
ISBN(s)
9781107017948 1107017947 9781139086110
My notes
Similar books and articles
Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine: A Stoic-Platonic Synthesis. By Sarah Catherine Byers. [REVIEW]Gerald P. Boersma - 2014 - Augustinian Studies 45 (1):145-149.
Augustine and the Cognitive Cause of Stoic Preliminary Passions ( Propatheiai ).Sarah C. Byers - 2003 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 41 (4):433-448.
"The Psychology of Compassion: A Reading of City of God 9.5".Sarah Byers - 2012 - In James Wetzel (ed.), Augustine's City of God: A Critical Guide. Cambridge University Press. pp. 130-148.
The Stoic Life: Emotions, Duties, and Fate (review).Henry Dyson - 2006 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 44 (2):317-318.
Human health and stoic moral norms.Lawrence C. Becker - 2003 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 28 (2):221 – 238.
How Nothing Can Be Something: The Stoic Theory of Void.Vanessa de Harven - 2015 - Ancient Philosophy 35 (2):405-429.
Logic: The Stoics (Part Two).Susanne Bobzien - 1999 - In Keimpe Algra, Jonathan Barnes & et al (eds.), The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge University Press.
Two Cities And Two Loves: Imitation In Augustine's Moral Psychology And Political Theory.Parrish John - 2005 - History of Political Thought 26 (2):209-235.
Reading Shaftesbury's Pathologia: An Illustration and Defence of the Stoic Account of the Emotions.Christian Maurer & Laurent Jaffro - 2013 - History of European Ideas 39 (2):207-220.
The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (Cbt): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy.Donald Robertson - 2010 - Karnac.
Pathologia, A Theory of the Passions.Laurent Jaffro, Christian Maurer & Alain Petit - 2013 - History of European Ideas 39 (2):221-240.
Analytics
Added to PP
2015-06-03
Downloads
6 (#1,104,966)
6 months
1 (#450,993)
2015-06-03
Downloads
6 (#1,104,966)
6 months
1 (#450,993)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Nature, corruption, and freedom: Stoic ethics in Kant's Religion.Melissa Merritt - 2021 - European Journal of Philosophy 29 (1):3-24.
Augustine's Debt to Stoicism in the Confessions.Sarah Catherine Byers - 2016 - In John Sellars (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition. Routledge. pp. 56-69.
Early Christian Ethics.Sarah Catherine Byers - 2017 - In Sacha Golob & Jens Timmermann (eds.), The Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 112-124.
Intellectual property and industrialization: legalizing hope in economic growth.Laura R. Ford - 2017 - Theory and Society 46 (1):57-93.