Augustine of Hyppo and the ambivalences of his philosophy

Abstract

The main objective of this text is to analyze some of the ambiguities that characterize Augustine of Hippo’s position regarding the so-called pagan culture in general and Greek philosophy in particular. As a matter of fact, the author of Confessions is situated in a mid-term, which I identify by the expression “the paradox of between”, for he does not totally embrace the position of Justin Martyr, who identifies Christian wisdom with Greek philosophy, neither does he claim the other extreme position of Tertullian, who sees an antagonism or an insuperable gap between “Christian wisdom” and “pagan wisdom”, or between faith and reason. In the perspective of this paradox, three major questions will be examined: (a) the relation between philosophy and Christian religion, (b) the problem of the “platonic philosophers”, (c) the concepts of recollection and memory.