This collection of essays focuses on Augustine's relationship to Wittgenstein and critically examines the two in light of various philosophical connections between them. Its scope is intentionally broad in order to show that reading each of these philosophers through the lens of the other enhances our understanding of both. Cover 1 Half title 2 Series page 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 Contents 6 Introduction 8 Notes 13 Chapter 1 14 Wittgenstein and Augustine De Magistro 14 The Dialogue De Magistro 16 Wittgenstein and the Confessions 28 Notes 30 Chapter 2 34 Learning by Ostension in Augustine and Wittgenstein 34 Part I: What Wittgenstein Misunderstood 36 Part II: What Wittgenstein Did Learn 39 Part III: What Wittgenstein Should Have Learned 42 Conclusion 45 Notes 46 Chapter 3 50 In the Beginning 50 Names for Needs 54 Deliverance 62 Notes 66 Chapter 4 70 The Swine and the Chatterbox 70 II 71 III 77 IV 80 V 84 Notes 85 Chapter 5 88 Wittgenstein, Ritual, and “St. Augustine’s Attitude to Sex” 88 Notes 104 Chapter 6 108 Wittgenstein and Augustine on Seeing Miracles 108 Eyes of the Body, and Eyes of the Mind 109 Miracles and Eyes in Augustine’s Reading of John 112 Wittgenstein and the Ordinariness of Wonders 114 Seeing Wonders 118 In Front of Our Eyes 120 Notes 122 Chapter 7 126 Original Sense 126 Sensitivity to Origins: Where We First Learn to Speak 127 Augustine on True Religion: The Origins of Religion 133 Myths of Origin: Religion as a Return to Origins 136 Notes 140 Chapter 8 144 Wittgenstein, Augustine, and the Content of Memory 144 I. Twelve Wittgensteinian Themes 145 II. Augustine’s Conception of Memory: A Wittgensteinian Progress 149 III. Wittgenstein on the Grammar of “Remembering”: An Augustinian Investigation 154 IV. Conclusion: Carrying Augustine’s Research 160 Notes 162 Chapter 9 164 Time and Freedom in the Confessions and the Tractatus 164 The Hidden Psychology (Of Seeing Yourself) 165 The Freedom That Has Never Existed 170 Time Is Not On Our Side 173 Logic Can’t Hear You Scream 175 Conclusion 177 Notes 178 Chapter 10 182 Augustine and Wittgenstein on the Will 182 Notes 196 Bibliography 198 Index 206 About the Contributors 214 This collection examines the relationship between Augustine and Wittgenstein and demonstrates the deep affinity they share, not only for the substantive issues they treat but also for the style of philosophizing they employ. Wittgenstein saw certain salient Augustinian approaches to concepts like language-learning, will, memory, and time as prompts for his own philosophical explorations, and he found great inspiration in Augustine's highly personalized and interlocutory style of writing philosophy. Each in his own way, in an effort to understand human experience more fully, adopts a mode of philosophizing that involves questioning, recognizing confusions, and confronting doubts. Beyond its bearing on such topics as language, meaning, knowledge, and will, their analysis extends to the nature of religious belief and its fundamental place in human experience. The essays collected here consider a broad range of themes, from issues regarding teaching, linguistic meaning, and self-understanding to miracles, ritual, and religion.
