...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's attempt to discredit the Academics by seeking to convict them of error. When Augustine goes to convict the Academics of error, he is careful to argue that, in addition to errors of assent, there are also errors of non-assent, and that these errors...

...This afterword summarizes the main points of Augustine of Hippo's critique of Academic skepticism by focusing on four charges that he levels against it: first, that the Academics are neither happy nor wise in their philosophical practice; second, that the Academics are unable to appeal to what...

...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's efforts to vindicate the possibility of knowledge as he sought to discredit Academic skepticism. It first considers the debate that took place between the Academics and the Stoics over the possibility of knowledge, with particular emphasis on the Academics...

...This afterword summarizes the main points of Augustine of Hippo's strategy for vindicating the possibility of knowledge against the Academics' denial of that possibility. Augustine puts forward a number of truths in each of the divisions of philosophy—physics, ethics, and dialectic—that he claims...

...Among the most important, but frequently neglected, figures in the history of debates over skepticism is Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE). His early dialogue, Against the Academics, together with substantial material from his other writings, constitutes a sustained attempt...

... or occult means was illicit, even dangerous. It first considers three premier theological authorities: Augustine of Hippo, the thirteenth-century Dominican philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas, and his contemporary William of Auvergne. It discusses their particular issues with, and condemnations...

...This book examines the critique of Academic skepticism fashioned by Augustine of Hippo in the fourth and fifth centuries. Although there is no evidence that he knew anything of the Pyrrhonian tradition, Augustine was intimately familiar with the Academic tradition from his reading of Cicero, who...

...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's rejection of the Socratic ideal of the good life and his belief that wisdom was a type of knowledge necessary to happiness. Augustine was unimpressed with Socrates's ideal of the good life. This was the ideal of a life dedicated to philosophical inquiry...

...This chapter examines one of Augustine of Hippo's best known and most powerful objections to Academic skepticism: the “Inaction Objection.” It first considers the Academics' response to the Inaction Objection, with particular emphasis on their appeal to persuasiveness as a means of explaining how...

...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's advocacy of belief on authority as a legitimate basis of philosophical inquiry and how it put him at odds with the Academics. Augustine's entry into the life of the Church at the age of thirty-three led him to believe that he had come into possession...

...This chapter examines how Platonism figures in Augustine of Hippo's views on the apprehensible truths of philosophy. It first considers a passage from the monologue of Against the Academics in which Augustine declares the limits of the Academics' attack on apprehension and aligns...

...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's treatment of first-person truths. Augustine recognized the antiskeptical potential of the first-person truths that he identified from his earliest days as a writer and considered their apprehensibility to be immune to skeptical challenge. We may take...

...This chapter examines Augustine of Hippo's critique of Academic skepticism by drawing on his narrative of the history of the Academy and the broader development of Platonism. It first considers how reading Cicero's book Hortensius led Augustine to the path of philosophy...

...This chapter examines the three things that Augustine of Hippo sets out to do in the monologue of Against the Academics to directly establish the possibility of knowledge. First, Augustine presents three dilemmas concerning Zeno's definition of an apprehensible impression to force...

...This chapter examines resources in Augustine of Hippo's thought for those wishing to counter skeptical attacks on sensation. Despite his unwillingness to countenance sensation as a means of apprehension, Augustine insists that the senses are reliable instruments of cognition. Most important, he...

...This chapter tackles the interpretation of Romans from Latin fathers, such as Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. The Jewish questions proceeded to spark discussion within the framework of avowedly anti-Jewish polemical treatises, even though the question of Israel's place...