QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:
Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Matthews, G. B. Search for Related Content

Inner Dialogue in Augustine and Anselm

Philosophy, Massachusetts at Amherst

In the Theaetetus, Plato has Socrates propose that thinking is a discussion the soul has with itself. But Plato never wrote a philosophical work in the form of an inner dialogue. Augustine's Soliloquies is the first such work. Writing in this form, Augustine is inspired to treat what can be expressed by "I exist" as a philosophically significant piece of knowledge and to entertain Berkeleyan idealism as a serious hypothesis. He also presents two philosophical perplexities concerning prayer, which he leaves unresolved. Anselm's Proslogion, which is both a prayer and an inner dialogue, offers a robust response to perplexities of the sort that troubled Augustine.