History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps HoP 114 - Sarah Byers on Augustine's Ethics
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Feb 3, 2013 AI Snips
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Augustine's Stoic Sources
- Augustine relied heavily on Cicero and Seneca for Stoic moral psychology rather than only Greek Stoic originals.
- He likely had access to lost Latin sources or translated anthologies conveying Stoic technical terms.
Stoic Tripartite Motivation
- The Stoic model explains motivation as a tripartite process: impression, assent (ascent), and impulse that moves action.
- A motivating impression contains imperative mental language that makes an action seem appropriate and causes impulse if assented to.
Augustine Adapts Stoic Model
- Augustine adopts the Stoic impression-ascent-impulse model and even Stoic terminology like sujastio in his writings.
- He synthesizes this with Platonist intellective perception, locating higher apprehension of the good in the intellect and motivating impressions in lower discursive reason.