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5. Retractationes, J. iv. 4.
6. Winkler, Klaus, "La Theorie Augustinienne de la memoire
a son point de depart," Augustinus Magister J (Paris: Etudes augustiniennes 1954) p. 519.
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On tbis same issue Gilson aptly observes the importance of understanding such terms as "remembrance"
and "reminiscence" as they are used by Saint Augustine. Gilson notes: ... "if Saint Augustine continues to use the terms 'remembrance' and 'reminis~
cence' in the explanation of thought, we are to understand them in a sense quite different from that of
Plato. The Platonie recollection of the past gives
way to that Augustinian memory of the present
whose role becomes more and more important." 7
It iso also important in considering the development
of the different meanings that memory has for Saint
Augustine to take care not to confuse his analysis
with any contemporary psychological account of the
nature and function of memory. In particular,
memory is not to be considered as a "part' , or a
"faculty" of the mind, although sometimes it is
difficult to avoid the use of such ternlS in translating
Saint Augustine. That memory is not a faculty is
noted by Bourke: "For Saint Augustine, memoria
is not a faculty of the soul, but the whole soul, as
conscious of itself and its contents."8 It should also
be 0 bserved, as we sha11 see in more detail later,
that Saint Augustine frequently uses metaphors, particularly spatial ones, in describing the nature of
memory. Such metaphors are not to be taken in
7. Gilson, Etienne. The Christian Phi!osophy 0/ Saint Augustine.
Trans. by L. Lynch. (Random House, N. Y. 1960) p. 75.
8. Bourke, V. J. The Con/essions 0/ St. Augustine. (Fathers of
the Church, Inc. (New York, 1951), p. 286n.
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13. De Trin. X. 5. 7.
14. Ibid., VIII. 6. 9.
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18. X. 9.
19. Ibid., X. 12.
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is, at least partly, in the use of memory and its privative term, oblivion. He does not clearly distinguish
the capacity to remember from the act of remenlbering, nor complete oblivion (total amnesia) from the
forgetfulness of one item of knowledge. "26 Thus the
chapters on "forgetting" in the Confessiones27 point
up the difficulties that memory has for Saint Augustine
and add to his endeavor to identify memory with
the mind and with ,God.
Functions of Memory. Since for Saint Augustine
the mind or soul is one and contains no distinct faculties, it is often difficult to determine the specific powers
of the mind. Will nlay overlap or be confused with
mind, and memory, as we shall see, takes on very
broad powers and is also identified with the milld
(memoria sui) and with God (memoria Dei). However, some of the specific powers of the memory are
made rather explicit. Imagination, as we have seen,
is clearly a function of memory. And such activities
as recall and recognition are also specific functions
of memory. This last point is brought out rather
vividly in the Confessiones following his account of
the woman who had lost a drachma and looked for
it by the light of a lamp and who would not have
found her coin unless she had remembered it. As
Saint Augustine relates it:
D.
52.
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And so it always happens when we look for somehing lost and then find it. When something is
lost from sight but not from memory, namely, like
a visible body, its image is retained within us and
we look for it until it comes to light once more.
And when it is found it is recognized by the image
within us. Nor do we say that we have found
what was lost, unless we recognize it and we cannot recognize it unless we remember it. Thus it
was lost to sight but was retained in the memory.28
With respect to the intellectual memory and its
powers of reca11 and recognition, the problem takes
on new dimensions. For the knowledge contained
in our intellectual memory is not contingent upon the
senses, but of necessity is innate. Instead of a remembrance of the past we have a memory of that which
is present to the mind. To recall is simply to recognize something as present to the mind. Gilson sums
up the problem rather effectively in the following
commentary:
...when I look and find in my mind knowledge
that is wholly abstract, such as the idea of essence
or that of cause, how am 1 to say this knowledge
found entry to the mind? It is obvious that it did
not come through the senses, and yet it is in the
mind. Thus we see that in order to make room
for knowledge of this sort, and in general for all
28. Con/. X. 18.27.
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purpose it is sufficient to emphasize that it is the function of menlory here to discover ideas that are present
to and within us. Vltimately, of course, all knowledge is dependent upon God and his Divine Illumination. Both in memory and in learning, as weIl as
in knowledge and wisdom the soul must turn toGod
for illumination.
On the level of intellectual knowledge to recall is
merely to recognize something as present to the mind.
As Le Blond puts it:
La memoire, en effet, c'est la une idee chere a
Saint Augustin, n'est pas seulement la faculte de
conserver et de rappeller les souvenirs, elle est
la faculte de la duree, dans toute sa richesse. Aussi
ne la definit-il pas premierement comme la faculte
du passe, mais comme la faculte de present... 37
It is in this respect that memory merges into and
becomes the mind itself, with a knowledge of the
past and the present, with the ability to collect and
assemble its knowledge. For once the attention
lapses, ideas sink back, as Saint Augustine puts it:
...into the remote chambers of my memory. Hence,
if I am to know them I have to draw them out
from their old lairs... and I have to collect them
again, and this is the origin of the word cogitare
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39.
40.
41.
42.
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32
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infinitude and greatness of God who exists in an eternity of past, present, and future. It would seem
evident, therefore that the analysis of memory can
only be continued and exemplified in its highest form
in the eleventh book of the Confessiones. Even the
final and tentative answer of Sail1t Augustine to the
nature of time as a distension of the mind seems to
be anticipated in the rather crude metaphor with
which he likens memory sonlewhat facetiously to a
distension of the stomach. 59
It should be evident then why memory l1as been
singled out and honored with God's presence. For
not only is the power of the nlemory great and awe
inspiring in the depths of its complexity, but it is
also the mind itself. A mind that can discover all
things within the memory, for the memory contains
all things whether the mind is aware of them or not.
"My mind," Saint Augustine declares, "can glide
from one thing to another, and there is no limit
to the depths of my memory. So great is the power
of my memory. "60
Yet if he is to reach God he must go beyond memory. But if he goes beyond memory then paradoxically he has no memory of God. "How, then,"
declares Saint Augustine, "am 1 to find you, if 1 have
no memory of you?" 61 But God cannot be forgotten
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43
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77.
78.
79.
80.
11. 3. 7.
XIII. 11.
XI. 26.
XIV. 7-10, and XIV. 12. 5.
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memoria sui the knowledge and love of the self presupposed the memory of the self, so in the memoria Dei,
without the memory of God, the very presence of
God to our minds, there can be no understanding or
love of Him. In a word, God must first present
Himself to us and He does this through His existence
in our memory. It will be by remembering God
that we come to know Him and to love Hirn. Without the memory of God, wisdom and happil1ess are
impossible for us. TIns is a matter of faith, but how
can I believe and attain wisdom and happiness?
Only if God through His grace extends faith to me
and makes His presence known to me in my memory.
In this way the last exposition of the several images
of the Trinity ends the long search for the highest
image of God by discovering Him in our memory.
Thus the all important place of memory in the
thought of Saint Augustine can hardly be overlooked
or underestimated. For just as the memoria sui
engenders the cogito and our love and knowledge of
the self, so the memoria Dei as a repository for God
leads to an understanding (intelligentia) and a love
(amor) for God. It mayaiso be observed that in
this highest trinity to be discovered in the mind or
memory of man there exists an image of the Divine
Word, the "word" (verbum) that is born from the
knowledge that is retained in the storehouse (thesauro)
of the memory. From such knowledge, Saint Augustine declares, "a true word is born when we say that
which we know, a word that precedes every sound
or expression...a word that belongs to no language,
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APPENDIX A
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De
De
De
De
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with the sensible memory. 6 Frequently, Saint Augustine identifies spirit with the Scriptural meaning,
inspired partly by the in1pression made upon him
by the famous vision of Saint Paul. 7 The distinction between spirit and mind as weIl as some of the
meanings of spirit is clearly evident in the following
statement of Saint Augustine:
Concerning the words: "the spirit of your mind",
the Apostle Paul did 110t meal1 two different things,
as if the mind were one thing, and the spirit of
the mind another thing, because every mind is
spirit, while not every spirit is mind. God also
is spirit (John 4.24)....One even speaks of the
spirit of the beast...the wind is called spirit, and
it is evidently something material; so, we have
the words of the Psalm: "Fire, hail, snow, ice, the
spirit of the tempest." (Ps. CXLVIII, 8). Since
then, the word 'spirit' is used in so many different
ways, the Apostle in speakil1g of the spirit of the
mil1d wished to signify that spirit which is called
mind."8
Spirit is also related to the three forms of vision,
l1amely:. 1) Corporeal vision, because it is perceived
through the body and is represented in incorporeal
images 2) Spiritual vision insofar as it represents the
6.'" De Civ. Dei. X. 9.
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image of an absent body yet is not a body and 3) Intellectual vision but not mental (mentale) vision which
Saint Augustine COl1sidered to be absurd as though
it were something seen by the mind. 9
Understanding (intelligentia, intellectus) is above
reason (ratio) and represents the highest function of
the mind. It is regarded as higher than reason because it is possible to have reason without understanding, but not understanding without reason.
Ul1derstanding or intelligel1ce is that which is achieved by the mind in virtue of its activity as reason.
As Saint Augustine states it:
But understanding is one thing, reason another.
For we have reason even before we are able to
understand; but we cannot understand unless we
have reason. Hence, man is an animal endowed
with reason, or, to speak more precisely and briefly,
a rational animal whose very nature is to reason,
and who has reason before he understands. What
makes him eager to understand is the fact that he
is endowed with the gift of reason. 10
It is the intellect or intelligence which will be directly illuminated by the Divine Light. It-the intellect-is a kind of inner sight by means of which the
mind perceives the truth that is revealed to it by the
Divine Illumination. This highest form of vision
presupposes the possession of faith.
9. Sermo. 43. 2. 3.
10. Ennar. in Ps. 32.
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